More than a thousand MuckRock readers have let us know that they want more transparency around how their local law enforcement agency does its job.

Whether these police departments have known issues or are positive contributors to the community, having access to information about their operations can help the public they serve to better understand and participate in conversations about funding, policy, and oversight.

To help facilitate the exchange of information between city residents and the government, MuckRock has been using our Assignment feature to collect suggestions from our audience. These Assignments are interested in a few different angles of police accountability, including:

• the adoption of new technologies, like drones, facial recognition, and Robocops

• policies around how police are disciplined for using force, both on the job and at home

• the costs of actual and alleged police misbehavior

• agreements that influence police department procedures around discipline and recordkeeping

The response from our audience has been awesome.

We’ve received 1,631 submissions from our audience across our policing-related Assignments, and we’re excited to continue to help our audience expand the effort. You can help by adding your city to one of the cities on our project page.

Have feedback? Let us know.

“Police line at the 2020 George Floyd DC Riots” by Ryan Kosmides under the Unsplash license