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YPD stats say police used force 90 times in ‘15
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
From tackling a fleeing suspect to using their electronic stun weapons, city officers used force 90 times in 2015, statistics compiled by the police department show.
That marks a 3 percent decrease from 2014, says staff Inspector Lt. Brian Butler, who also heads the Internal Affairs Division.
In all of the 2015 cases, officers were found to have followed the department’s use-of-force policy. Butler said the department received two complaints last year from citizens alleging use of excessive force, both of which were investigated and ruled unfounded.
Butler and Police Chief Robin Lees said the department never waits for a complaint, however, to investigate a case of force. They said the officer involved makes a separate report that is reviewed by that officer’s sergeant, who is in charge of that officer’s particular beat.
After that review is completed, the lieutenant in charge of that shift then does an investigation before it goes to internal affairs, which gives a final review of the officer’s actions.
Butler said reports are made at each instance and kept so they can be reviewed periodically to detect any trends and to tailor ongoing training toward those trends. Lees said if the internal review finds an officer violated departmental policy, that officer will be disciplined, even without a complaint from a citizen.
The cases reviewed for 2015 fall under the department’s definition of “necessary force,” which is defined in its manual as “that force which is necessary and reasonable in overcoming resistance to arrest, custody or compliance with a lawful or necessary order.”
The department’s manual also encourages officers to deal with people in a way so that force is not necessary, including being respectful, avoiding being overbearing or subservient and to also know their responsibilities and limits when enforcing the law.
Use-of-force cases in the department are investigated under the “objective reasonableness” standard set by the U.S. Supreme Court case Graham v. Conner. Butler said: “The judgment of reasonableness must provide for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments in circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving.”
Lees said the department goes to great lengths to ensure that all patrol officers are equipped with the means to deal with people in a nonlethal way, including the use of electronic stun weapons. He said each officer in the patrol division is equipped with a stun weapon, which costs as much as the .40-caliber semiautomatic handguns all officers also are issued. Lees said that does not include training costs for using them.
In 2015, stun weapons were used 28 percent of the time, a 3 percent increase from 2014. In 72 percent of those cases, the stun weapon was effective and allowed police to control a suspect, the statistics show. The rate of effectiveness for the weapons was a 44 percent increase from 2014. Butler said the reason for the increase in effectiveness is because the department switched to a different brand of electronic stun weapons.
“We’ve had much better luck with these new ones,” Butler said.
Additionally, officers used chemical spray in 31 percent of their cases in 2015.
In force cases, 80 percent of the suspects were male and 16 suspects were injured, and officers were injured in six of those cases. The average age of a suspect was 30.
Officers on midnight turn had the most use-of-force cases, with 44 percent of the cases. Afternoon turn had 37 percent of use-of-force cases, and day turn accounted for 18 percent.
Midnight-turn officers also were involved in the most vehicle pursuits, statistics for 2015 show. Of 67 vehicle chases last year, midnight-turn officers were involved in 45 percent of them. Afternoon turn had 30 percent of the pursuits, and day turn had 3 percent. Other units, such as the vice squad, made up the rest of the percentages.
The South Side had the most pursuits of any part of town, with 76 percent of vehicle pursuits taking place there. The average time of day for a pursuit was 1:08 p.m., according to the statistics.