Sheriff unveils new dashboards to improve transparency

New dashboards are available for public use on the sheriff’s website, located at www.venturasheriff.org/transparency/, which allow the public to achieve a better understanding of the contacts deputies have with people every day throughout the county.

The dashboards contain information about traffic stops, crime statistics, use of force, and data collected under the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015, also known as RIPA. Although RIPA was signed into law in 2015, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office began collecting data on January 1, 2021 in line with the statutory timelines set by the legislation. A detailed explanation of RIPA data can be found on the website.

“These dashboards give the public a detailed picture of the tremendous work our deputies do every day,” said Sheriff Bill Ayub. “Making this information available to everyone is another step in our ongoing effort toward building and maintaining trust with the communities we serve.”

All of the dashboards contain detailed information for each community. The use-of-force data contains a breakdown of the types of force used, and includes information on every officer-involved shooting since 1965. Out of nearly 1 million documented contacts with the public in the past five years, less than half of one percent resulted in any use of force by deputies. The demographics of jurisdictions are included on dashboards to provide context when viewing stop data within each community.

All of the dashboards are live as of May 25, 2021.