Policing & Criminal Justice | Police Mental Health
The increase in UOF occurrences can be attributed to the following :
• Increased response to violent offenses . In evaluating the top 10 dispatched calls for service in 2022 wherein force was applied , Domestic Assaults and Aggravated Assaults comprise 44 % of the top 10 calls for service . This is significant in that APD officers are responding to calls which are violent in nature .
• We also evaluated results of Crimes Against Society , which is a measure of officer ’ s self-initiated activity . When we look at those cases of Crimes Against Society , 79 % of them involved drug and narcotic offenses , while 15 % involved weapon law violations .
• Increase focus on de-escalation tactics involving time , distance , and additional officers can be attributed to the increase in the number of occurrences . Additionally , the nature of offenses being dispatched often requires a multiple officer response , both leading to an increase in occurrences when voluntary compliance is not obtained , and force application is warranted .
For clarity , a UOF incident is defined by a singular police incident which involved a force application . A UOF occurrence is defined by a total number of force applications applied in an incident .
For example , a UOF incident involving one officer applying one level of force on one subject is classified as one incident
with one occurrence . In contrast , a UOF incident involving two officers applying one level of force on one subject is classified as one incident with two occurrences . Some changes of note include an overall decrease in the use of CEW ( taser ) and an overall increase in the use of empty hand control ( laying a hand on an individual to encourage compliance with a lawful order .) resulting from a policy change to elevate the CEW ( i . e . taser ) on the Use of Force Continuum .
APD continues to work to build trust with Arlington ’ s minority communities to encourage voluntary compliance with police officer orders . Building this trust increases the safety of both police officers and members of the public .
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