The Law Enforcement Contacts Policy and Data Review Committee

Upcoming LECC Meetings

LECC meetings are open to the public

November 4, 2009

9:00 - 10:00 a.m.: LECC Data Review Subcommittee Meeting

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: LECC Community Relations Subcommittee Meeting

12:00 - 3:00 p.m.: LECC (full committee) Meeting

Location:

Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST)

4190 Aumsville Highway

Salem, Oregon 97317

For more information: Contact Dr. Brian Renauer at renauer@pdx.edu or (503) 725-8090

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About the LECC:

The 2001 Oregon Legislature adopted Senate Bill 415, section 5 of which encourages the collection of data on traffic stops by law enforcement agencies. It also provides limited assistance for the analysis of the data and establishes the Law Enforcement Contacts Policy and Data Review Committee (see the press release). The 2007 Oregon Legislature adopted House Bill 2102, which eliminates the sunset of the LECC, allows the Data Review Subcommittee to receive data from agencies that have not collected data on all recommended data points, and shifts the administration of the LECC from the Criminal Justice Commission to Portland State University.

The purpose of the committee is to "receive and analyze demographic data to ensure that law enforcement agencies perform their missions without inequitable or unlawful discrimination based on race, color or national origin." The committee is charged with a technical role in providing assistance to local agencies in collecting and analyzing traffic stop data, and an educational role in publicizing "programs, procedures and policies from communities that have made progress toward eliminating discrimination based on race, color or national origin during law enforcement stops and other contacts with individuals." The bill gives equal emphasis to the data collection effort and to improving community relations with law enforcement. The Committee shall "provide opportunities for communities and state and local law enforcement agencies to work together to increase public trust and confidence in law enforcement and to enhance the capacity of communities and law enforcement agencies to provide more effective public safety services."

Members of the Law Enforcement Contacts Policy and Data Review Committee (LECC), appointed by the Governor, are:

Brief History of LECC

In 1997, the Oregon Legislature had adopted House Bill 2433. Section 6 of that bill required law enforcement agencies to collect data, adopt policies prohibiting the "stopping, detention and search of persons under ORS 810.410 when the action is motivated by the officer's perception of the person's race, color, sex or national origin and when the action would constitute a violation of the person's civil rights." The legislation also required that "a process be implemented within the agency to: ... facilitate the reporting of complaints" and to "receive and review complaints by persons who believe they have been stopped, detained or searched in violation of the agency's policy." Summaries of those complaints were compiled by the Asset Forfeiture Oversight Advisory Committee (AFOAC). After the initial reporting period, that effort was continued on a voluntary basis for two years, but then discontinued in favor of the traffic stop data collection effort under SB 415. Another part of the data collection effort under HB 2433 was a public perception survey, a summary of which is available here below (see Public Perceptions of Stop Decisions by Oregon Police Officers 1999).

After the committee's first year of activity, it reported findings and recommendations to the Joint Interim Committee on the Judiciary and released its first annual report (2002).

The "budget crunch" of 2003 resulted in a period of inactivity during which little additional traffic stop data was collected, but the committee continued to participate in the Oregon Annual Social Indicators Survey (OASIS) conducted by the Oregon Survey Research Laboratory (link to website) at the University of Oregon. The committee has released a summary of the four years of survey results.

The LECC and its subcommittees have been meeting regularly since March of 2005 (see meetings minutes as well as annual reports). Some projects that the LECC has completed since 2005 include a survey of Oregon law enforcement agencies, a national literature review of stop data reports, analyses of the OASIS public perception survey results, analysis of some Oregon law enforcement agencies’ stop data, and partnership efforts with the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST).

The LECC has formed the following workgroups, which address specific issues and projects:

• LECC Technical Assistance Team
• LECC DPSST Scenario Development Workgroup
• LECC Training Workgroup

• A Bureau of Justice Statistics report Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey
• Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) documents on "racially biased policing." From the home page, click on "Enter as guest" and use the menu to navigate to "Free Downloads" and documents on "racially biased policing." "By the Numbers" provides an excellent review of the difficulties in analyzing traffic stop data.
• An exhaustive compilation of resources on racial profiling and traffic stop data collection provided by Northeastern University's Institute on Race and Justice -- it includes a state by state guide to legislation, data collection efforts, and involved community groups
• A publication on data collection and analysis methodology from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS): "How to Correctly Collect and Analyze Racial Profiling Data: Your Reputation Depends On It!"

All documents below are in PDF format, and require Adobe Reader (link here for the Adobe download page).