A web app and data project by the Stanford Know Systemic Racism Project, with partners American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
California State Assembly Bill 481 (AB-481), which became effective January, 2022, requires law enforcement agencies to post annual reports about the military equipment that they own. But what exactly is this military equipment and what is it used for?
According to AB-481, "The public has a right to know about any funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment by state or local government officials, as well as a right to participate in any government agency’s decision to fund, acquire, or use such equipment." This web app is intended to make it easier for the public to understand. The purpose of the project is also to help people understand how military equipment may influence change police culture.
In this project, we want to look at data on military equipment cost, the relationship between equipment and deaths/injury. We intend to make the data readily available as interactive visualizations for legislators and activists.
This web app is still a working prototype. Explain that this is a prototype. Overarching goal to do with how we communicate with data. "Collections as data" applied to Military Equipment Inventories which are part of the larger CA lea policy manuals collection.
https://goto.stanford.edu/militarization (Currently hosted on Streamlit server, as of 5/16/2023)