Garner Police Department 2019 Annual Report Published August 2020 | Page 19

Use of Force
GARNER POLICE DEPARTMENT policy dictates
that police officers will use only that force
necessary to protect life and affect lawful
objectives. In addition to the use of physical force,
police officers in Garner are equipped with and trained
to use batons, conducted electrical weapons (better
known by the name brand “Taser”) and, if necessary,
their firearms when performing their lawful duties.
USE OF FORCE REVIEW
Per directive, a reportable use of force is defined as:
• Any use of force that is applied to overcome
overt physical resistance (as defined herein) or to
overcome a physical assault by a suspect;
• Any use of force that causes an injury and/or a
complaint of injury or pain to an officer or any
other person or results in EMS being requested for
a suspect or officer;
• Any use of force that results in property damage
to non-department owned property;
• Physical strike(s) of a suspect or a strike(s) of a
suspect with any other object;
• The use of a baton to make physical contact
(a strike or other physical manipulation) with a
suspect;
• The release of a police canine for the purpose of
apprehending a suspect;
• The discharge of a firearm (with lethal or less
lethal ammunition) or Taser for any lawful purpose
other than training;
• The intentional pointing of a firearm (with lethal
or less lethal ammunition) or Taser towards a
person; and/or
• The intentional drawing, extension, and display
of a baton toward a person.
During 2019, there were a total of 33 incidents of use
of force, an increase from 23 in 2018. If you remove the
16 incidents of pointed weapons, the actual number
of incidents where physical force was used drops to
17. Most of the department’s use-of-force incidents
continue to involve one officer and one offender.
Every incident in which force is used or a firearm
or Taser is pointed at a suspect by a Garner police
officer is thoroughly investigated and documented
by supervisory staff and is reviewed through the
department’s chain of command. The department
utilizes the Administrative Investigations Management
(AIM) system to document all use of force investigations.
In addition to the review of the individual incident,
the Garner Police Department implemented an Early
Intervention System (EIS) to more effectively evaluate
employee performance. An EIS is a database police
management tool designed to monitor officer activity
to identify patterns and provide for consistent, proactive
intervention and assistance when appropriate. EIS
reviews are documented in the AIM system.
STATISTICAL SUMMARY
There were 1,140 arrests in 2019, an increase of 143
from 2018. Given that we had a total of 33 uses of
force in 2019, Garner police officers used force in 2.9%
of all arrests.
Incidents of Uses of Force, 2015-2019
Year Number of Incidents Percent Change
2015 34 -23%
2016 33 -3%
2017 36 9%
2018 23 -36%
2019 33 44%
AVERAGE 31.8 N/A
GARNER POLICE DEPARTMENT 2019 ANNUAL REPORT
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