Use of Force Still A Prevalent Issue

Photo Courtesy: Washington Post

Use of force continues to be a prevalent issue in the United States. With recent incidents like the Tamir Rice case and the recent episodes in Ferguson, Missouri, police departments across the country are now taking the appropriate action to deal with this issue of police use of force.

Students in Karl Idsvoog's Computer Assisted Reporting class at Kent State University were assigned a specific city in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, etc. They were instructed to call both the university police department and the city police department to inquire about how these departments document use of force and exactly how many use of force incidents there have been in the last five years.

Some students, however, found it very difficult to obtain information regarding use of force. For example, student Rachel Godin got in contact with Michigan State University PD and the City of Lansing, Michigan PD and was able to submit a public records request.  However, according to City Attorney Janene McIntyre, "Searching, complication and examination of records to prepare for a review, if done by the lowest paid capable employee, will result in estimated labor charges and necessary copying fees of approximately $21,350.00... the total charges could go higher."

TV2 Reporter Candace Monacelli also ran into a problem when talking to Cleveland State University and the City of Cleveland PD. Monacelli sent records requests to Marlise Taylor of the CSU Legal Department. After 22 days, Candace received only a partial response. Taylor informed her that only one use of force incident in which an officer fired her weapon. The CSU PD told her that the records indicated that no analysis of use of force existed. Monacelli then spoke with Plain Dealer Reporter Rachel Dissell and Dissell told her that the Department of Justice "had problems getting accurate numbers." However, after getting in contact with the Special Assistant to the Mayor of Cleveland & Press Assistant Daniel Ball was able to provide Monacelli with lethal and less lethal use of force data numbers. Monacelli concluded that "The City of Cleveland and Cleveland State University had several problems issuing public records, requesting and handling use of force within their police departments."

I experienced quite an interesting experience of my own with trying to request information on use of force.

My Story - Use of Force Records Request

For the past two months, I contacted both the University of Indiana Bloomington Police Department and the City of Bloomington Indiana Police Department to figure out how both departments handle use of force incidents.

I spoke with Officer Craig Munroe of the Indiana University Police Department Bloomington Division to figure out how their department deals with the issue of police use of force.

About a month and a half ago, I submitted a public records request, stating specifically that I was looking for the department's use of force policy. The request also stated that I was looking for the police department’s most recent analysis of use-of-force incidents from 2010-2014. After submitting my request to officer Munroe, he gave me the following response:

After submitting Indiana University's Request for Public Record Form, I received an email from Aimee Oestreich of the Indiana University Assistant General Counsel on February 10. 

A week later, I received an email from Laura Buck of the Office of Indiana University Office of Vice President. She informed me via email that she provided me the use of force policy, but could NOT provide the actual records of use of force incidents from 2010-2014 subject to Indiana Public Record Law §IC 5-14-3-4(b)(1).

According to Buck, "There is no larger analysis of use of force incidents maintained by IUPD. IC § 5-14-3-4 (b)(1) provides IU the ability to withhold 'investigatory records of law enforcement agencies,' and the use of force incident reports are being withheld as investigatory records under this exception to Indiana’s open records law.

It surprised me how a University like Indiana could not disclose this information, considering records are normally kept electronically and could be easily retrieved within a matter of minutes. Public records are just what they are: available to the PUBLIC.

What I Found Regarding IUPD Use of Force

Officer Craig Munroe did inform me, however, that "IUPD has never fired a firearm at any person during the 35 years I have been with IUPD."

Despite not finding exact data numbers on use of force incidents from 2010-2014, I did find some interesting information in Indiana University's Use of Force Policy.

IUPD Use of Force Policy

In the first few lines of the Use of Force Policy, it clearly indicates that officers can exert force so long as it's proportional to the amount of resistance encountered by the subject. With regard to using a weapon as means of control of force, "Officers are required by department policy to advise the shift supervisor or note in their incident report when he/she has to draw their weapon in the line of duty."

In subsection B of the Reporting Use of Force section, it said that any use of force should be documented in the case report. I found this interesting that the IUPD does have documented records regarding use of force incidents, yet can't disclose this important information to the PUBLIC.

The process of obtaining information on use of for from the City of Bloomington Indiana Police Department would prove to be an interesting story.

I got in contact with Joseph Qualters of the City of Bloomington Indiana Police Department to request information for the department's use of force policy.

Like the Indiana University Police Department, I had to submit a public records form to the City of Bloomington Police Department, which would then be reviewed by the Records Division and City Legal.

After submitting the request, Joan Manning of the City of Bloomington Indiana Police Department Records Division contacted me and told me that my request was not specific enough and did not ask for an analysis. In addition, she told me that because of the number of years of information I was seeking, it would be too time consuming and that the cost would be at least $500.

Once receiving word of this, I sent a new request to Officer Joseph Qualters on March 2nd requesting the following information:

• A copy of the police department's use of force policy
• TOTAL use of force incidents separated by year from 2010-2014
• (From Above) How many of those incidents separated by year involved an officer firing a weapon (weapon meaning handgun).

Three days later, Joan Manning was able to send me numbers on use of force incidents from 2010-2014 as well as the City of Bloomington Police Department's Use of Force Policy.

What I Found Regarding City of Bloomington PD Use of Force

According to the City of Bloomington Indiana Police Department's Use of Force Policy, "Use of Force" means:

1. An officer using any body part or object to strike a person. 

2. An officer discharging a firearm. 

3. An officer using any type of pain compliance technique, strike or come-along hold on a person. 

The policy also states that officers shall not discharge their weapon for any purpose unless for "defense of human life or defense of any person in immediate danger of serious bodily injury."

When reporting use of force, those reports must indicate why force was necessary, what force was used and must also include any follow-up action or treatment used or needed as a result of use of the force.

As far as the number of incidents from 2010-2014, I was surprised at the vast number of incidents being reported.

Joan Manning, City of Bloomington, Indiana PD Records Division Supervisor, gave me the following numbers regarding use of force incidents from 2010-2014:

The numbers above indicated an increase of 174 to 283 use of force incidents from 2010-2012. However, the last two years has seen a slight decrease in use of force incidents (283 in 2012, 227 in 2013, 239 in 2014). Over the course of the last five years, there has been an average of one case of use of force involving a weapon fired.

To get a more in-depth understanding of use of force, I recently spoke to Retired LAPD Officer and Use of Force Expert Greg Meyer.

Here is an exclusive interview of what Mr. Meyer had to say regarding use of force:

Use of Force & Request for Public Records - Lessons Learned

From this use of force reporting project, a lot can be said about how important this issue of use of force is in the public eye. As Greg Meyer mentioned in the interview, it is important for people to learn the process of police use of force and the powers that the police have as stated in the U.S. Constitution. By respecting the law and the police, these incidents of extreme police use of force can be significantly reduced. Should use of force ever be applied, it is vital that police officers make note of that in a report and that the incidents are recorded and documented electronically for personal observation. 

With regard to public records, it is important to clearly state in your request exactly WHAT information you are looking for and also UNDERSTAND public record laws in your particular state. As always, if at first you don't succeed in your public records request, don't just quit on it. STAY PERSISTENT! Corporations are good at jerking people around and not giving us what we want. The public deserves to be informed. As this use of force reporting project showed, retrieving public records is not always a walk in the park.

why use of force is a big deal

Everyday law enforcement officers face danger situations while still maintaining responsibilities. Especially dealing with dangers and unpredictable situations. Use of force by police departments has become a huge controversy for deaths around the United States. Tamir Rice, Mike Brown and Eric Garner names should ring a bell.

Just recently, unarmed teen fatally shot by a Madison, Wisconsin officer. Many innocent young African American men are losing their lives to someone that is supposed to protect them.

This is what happen in the case with Oscar Grant in San Francisco who was trying to enjoy the fireworks on the Fourth of July and got into an altercation with the police and ended in a tragedy. Officer Johannes Mehserle, assumed he had reached for taser but it was really his gun.

The computer-assisted reporting class was sent out to receive numbers of use of force incidents, use of force policies, analysis and weapons fired from various locations in Ohio and other surrounding states.

Unfortunately, I was not able to receive any information from Athens, Ohio Police Department. Athens County Sheriff's Office Records Clerk, Angela Waldron, told me "the files are not kept electronically and the records you are asking for are an excessive amount and are all boxed away."

According to Waldron per policy each report is reviewed by the shift supervisor, Chief, Captain and Investigations Lieutenant. I was transferred to many different voicemails of officers at the police station and no one contacted me back with information after calling numerous of times.

There was not much of a problem to receive records from Ohio University Police Department. The highest number of use of force reports was 12 in 2013.

When asked if Ohio University Police Department had any experts in use of force Officer Timothy Ryan stated, "the only way I am aware that one can be considered and "expert" is when a court grants the designation of "expert witness" for a particular hearing; OUPD does not keep records on such designations and I am personally unaware of anyone that needed such a designation for their testimony."

Here's an example of the police action incident report from Ohio University Police Department. The reports are fully detailed and gives a lot of information that happen during the incident.

Professor Karl Idvoosg gave each student a different state to locate an expert in use of force. North Carolina happens to be the state I received. I contacted a few different cities and got in contact with Office Ronnie Watson of Washington City, North Carolina.

The first mistake police departments make I don't want to say that because a police department shouldn't make mistakes, but the first mistake they is that we always reach for our weapon first in any situation," said Officer Watson.

For the students that did receive accurate numbers from their states about use of force they were very interesting, almost impossible to believe some students were not even able to receive information from certain departments.

In states like Toledo, Madison, WI, Minneapolis, Bloomington and Lansing, MI required a excessive amount of money for the request of use of force reports leaving students with no information at all.

Check out use of force reports  from colleges around Ohio to see how numbers vary in different cities from 2010 until 2014. After all of the class investigations it shows that many cities and colleges have problems with releasing public record request within their police departments.

Here's a demonstration on use of force and how it should be done.

As a result we learned as a class asking for certain detailed information from a police department is not as easy as it may seem. You have to work for the information that you need and it takes a lot time.

Lifting the Curtain: High Costs of Public Records

LIFTING THE CURTAIN: THE REAL PRICE TAG OF TRANSPARENCY

Rachel Godin | rgodin1@kent.edu

Considering the recent increase in news focused on police brutality in Cleveland, a class of upper-division, computer-assisted reporting students at Kent State University, sought out protocol files and use-of-force reports from police departments in surrounding states. 

The students made calls and sent requests for these public records to departments and waited for a response. A few of the 16 students received the digital documents they requested. But for others, accessing these files proved difficult. 

In my case, the city of East Lansing, Michigan said they did not possess the technology necessary to create a ASCII digital file. Furthermore, they wanted to charge me over $20,000 for copied pages of information.

"Searching, complication and examination of records to prepare for a review, if done by the lowest paid capable employee, will result in estimated labor charges and necessary copying fees of approximately $21,350.00... the total charges could go higher."

Godin's City of East Lansing's public records response letter

Needless to say, I did not purchase the files and my records request went unfilled.

Andrew Bugel, another student in the CAR class, received a similar response from Madison, Wisconsin after requesting the same files. WU asked for a prepayment of $1,750 prior to any processing. Bugel expressed concern over his public records request experience:

“As college students I think we should be able to have access to those files for a lower price. Personally, I think it’s sad that we had to go through this much trouble to get those files in general and once we received information, a lot of us didn’t receive accurate numbers.”

Bugel's Records Request Response from WU

Agencies are allowed under the law to charge for things like search time or even copying related to a public record request. But it wasn’t until our class received charge quotes like these that the real price tag of transparency was revealed. High costs limit public accessibility to the goings-on of many state judicial institutions. What transparency, if any, is there when an average member of the public sector cannot afford the information that is by-law the right of the public to access?Why aren’t emails and important documents such as use-of-force incident reports archived for easy accessibility for the department as well as the public?

Mark Horvit, Executive Director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, explained that such high prices are often used as a bluff-like defense by public agencies who do not want to give out or go to the trouble to release information.

For best results when trying to access records, Horvit said journalists should fully comprehend their state's record request laws and be able to communicate with the agency their knowledge, citing specific court case examples if necessary.

Click to listen: Full phone interview with Executive Director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Mark Horvit.

More on Ohio public records requests: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/ohio/access-public-records-ohio