By Kenny Ocker

The News Tribune

Days after making some policing data more accessible to the public, Tacoma police hosted a public forum Wednesday night at The Evergreen State College to discuss the data and how it’s used.

But former Mayor Harold Moss encouraged Police Chief Don Ramsdell to not lose perspective on community engagement in a sea of numbers.

He wanted to know how the Tacoma Police Department would prepare for an event similar to what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown.

In part of his reply, Ramsdell said, “It is important to us to be as open, honest and transparent as possible.”

Moss went on: “My concern is that we are not sharing that event. We’re not actually visualizing what the Police Department is going to do.”

The event started with addresses from City Councilman Keith Blocker, Brendan Nelson of the Hilltop Action Coalition and Ramsdell.

“Transparency and accountability — that’s why we’re here tonight,” Ramsdell said. “One of the things that we want to do is provide you with information that again everybody can see on our website that’s available to you. This is the beginning for us. We’re at the start.”

After Ramsdell’s speech, Assistant Chief Kathy McAlpine and Det. Ed Wade explained the data collection process. An hourlong question-and-answer session followed.

Data on officer-involved shootings and complaints were released Monday at data.cityoftacoma.org.

The department plans to expand its public data to use of force and community engagement statistics, McAlpine said.

McAlpine also said Tacoma police do not yet have complete data to tabulate minority contact, which one audience member asked about.

A second informational meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27 at the Asia-Pacific Cultural Center, 4851 S. Tacoma Way and three more are planned after.