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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:09 pm
Time: 12:09 pm
Results for officer-involved force
1 results foundAuthor: Peters, Mark G. Title: An Investigation of NYPD's New Force Reporting System Summary: The ability to accurately track and report on officer‐involved force incidents is critical to effectively managing a police department and maintaining the public's trust in law enforcement. In October 2015, however, the New York City Department of Investigation's (DOI) Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD (OIG‐NYPD) determined that the New York City Police Department (NYPD or the Department) was unable to identify and track such incidents. Among DOI's 15 recommendations to NYPD was the need for a separate, uniform use‐of‐force reporting form that allows NYPD to capture and track all officer uses of force and injuries that occur in the course of a police encounter. NYPD agreed in its response to the 2015 Report that such a tracking system was necessary and stated its plan to build one. In June 2016, the Department replaced its existing use‐of‐force policies, Patrol Guide Series 212, with a new set of use‐of‐force procedures, Patrol Guide Series 221. A new form - the Threat, Resistance, and Injury Worksheet (T.R.I.)—was introduced to NYPD system‐wide as the foundation of the new force‐reporting protocols. NYPD designed the new form to record certain uses of force by and against police officers as well as any injuries occurring during the course of a police action or while an individual is in police custody. Considering the importance of the new T.R.I. use‐of‐force reporting system, DOI investigated NYPD's compliance with the new policy, focusing on whether officers were completing T.R.I. forms when they used reportable force during an arrest. Following the examination of over 30,000 pages of NYPD documents and interviews with both the NYPD bureau overseeing the T.R.I. program and precinct supervisors responsible for executing the program in the field, DOI arrived at the following findings: - Despite a Weak Start in 2016, NYPD was Largely in Compliance in 2017 with Respect to Certain T.R.I. Metrics. NYPD arrest reports contain drop-down boxes in which officers can select "Yes/No" on whether they used force; a "Yes" would require the officer to also complete a T.R.I. During September - November 2016, officers failed to complete a T.R.I. in 36.2% of cases in which they had reported "Force Used: Yes" on an arrest report. A sample of nine precincts between May – July 2017, however, showed notable improvement; officers failed to complete T.R.I.s in only 10% of such cases. - Continuing Problems with T.R.I. Compliance: T.R.I.s Not Always Completed When Documents Signal That Reportable Force Was Used. DOI identified arrest reports with a resisting arrest charge in which the arresting officer selected "Force Used: No" on the arrest report drop-down box but the narrative suggests that the officer may have used force. DOI also identified Medical Treatment of Prisoner forms in which the officer's narrative description strongly suggests or clearly indicates that the officer used force on a member of the public, yet no T.R.I. was completed. NYPD does not have sufficient controls in place to identify these other uses of force - which are indeed harder to detect – and to ensure that T.R.I.s are completed when required. Such cases would not be captured in an audit that focuses solely on arrest reports where officers say "Force Used: Yes" in a drop-down box. However, because force used is not formally documented in these instances, the completion of T.R.I. forms is even more important. - Continuing Problems with Force Reporting on Arrest Reports. In at least 30% of the arrest reports with resisting arrest charges in the 2016 study period (and 55.9% in a 2017 sample), officers stated that "No" force was used but still filed a T.R.I. affirming that the officer indeed used reportable force during the incident. This means that officers are underreporting force on arrest reports and, as a result, certain statistics in NYPD's recent Annual Use‐of‐Force Report do not accurately reflect the universe of force incidents. - Supervisory Failures in the T.R.I. Program. In addition to broader, technological solutions that are helping NYPD achieve better force reporting, supervisors play a vital role in ensuring T.R.I. compliance. DOI identified several supervisory failures in the T.R.I. program that NYPD must address. These include the failure to record T.R.I. information in command logs, to complete required steps when investigating a force incident, and to submit quarterly T.R.I. reports to the NYPD First Deputy Commissioner, as indicated in Patrol Guide Series 221. - Continued Concerns in the Field. Candid interviews with NYPD precinct commanders revealed the growing need for deadlines on T.R.I. forms (currently there are none), additional training for officers, a narrative section on the T.R.I. forms where officers can further document the incident (currently there is none), and a more effective hotline for supervisors to call when T.R.I. questions emerge. - Opportunities for More Detailed and More Transparent Reporting. Enhancing accountability and public trust requires that NYPD publish accurate and useful data on officer use of force. While NYPD's recent Annual Use‐of‐Force report provides useful base‐line data on general uses of force, the report does not satisfy all legal reporting requirements. NYPD can do more to ensure that the public has a fuller understanding of force incidents involving police officers. Comprehensive force reporting will ultimately bolster NYPD's efforts at community engagement by providing reliable and relevant data that will better inform the public discussion about officer use of force. Details: New York City, NY: Department of Investigation, 2018. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 16, 2019 at: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doi/press-releases/2018/feb/08Use_of_Force_Report_020618.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doi/oignypd/reports.page Shelf Number: 154213 Keywords: Law EnforcementOfficer-Involved ForcePolice AccountabilityPolice DepartmentsPolice OfficerPolice ReportsTransparencyUse of Force |