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The collection of law enforcement use of force statistics has been mandated as a responsibility of the Attorney General since the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Title XXI: State and Local Law Enforcement, Subtitle D: Police Pattern or Practice, Section 210402, states the responsibility of the Attorney General to collect data on excessive force. Specifically—
In 1995, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) convened a Police Use of Force Workshop to discuss the requirements of Section 210402. Challenges on the collection of use of force statistics were discussed, including the identification and collection of excessive force data. The first step to measure excessive force is to capture the use of any action deemed as force, regardless of whether or not it is excessive. Therefore, recommendations were made on how to measure law enforcement use of force nationally with the ability to identify which acts were excessive. Two data collection streams were highlighted for this effort: BJS and NIJ sponsored the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) National Use of Force Database Center and BJS's Police–Public Contact Survey (PPCS). Since 1995, additional efforts have been made by BJS and other DOJ agencies to capture a broader understanding of law enforcement use of force, including training and policy. The following projects have collected data on various aspects of law enforcement use of force:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also collects national data pertaining to lethal and nonlethal injuries inflicted through legal intervention, which are defined as injuries inflicted by the law enforcement or other law-enforcing agents, including military on duty, in the course of arresting or attempting to arrest lawbreakers, suppressing disturbances, maintaining order, and other legal actions. Lethal incidents are captured through the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), Fatal Injury Reports, and nonlethal injuries are captured through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System - All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP). The CDC has been expanding its efforts to capture more information surrounding the circumstances of violent deaths through the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). While the NVDRS has received support from 32 states, the most recent data are from 17 of these states and not nationally representative. Data for all three databases can be accessed from the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS).
Data Experts |
Alexia D. Cooper, Ph.D., Statistician, BJS (SHR, LEOKA)
Elizabeth Davis, Statistician, BJS (PPCS)
Shelley S. Hyland, Ph.D., Statistician, BJS (LEMAS, PPCS, CLETA)
Lynn Langton, Ph.D., Statistician, BJS (PPCS)
Todd D. Minton, Statistician, BJS (SILJ)
Michael Planty, Ph.D., Chief of Victimization Unit, BJS (ARD)
Data Collections & Surveys |
Publications & Products |
Police Use of Nonfatal Force, 2002-11 Presents data on the threat or use of nonfatal force by police against white, black, and Hispanic residents during police contact. | |
Press Release | Summary (PDF 202K) | PDF (751K) | ASCII file (38K) | Comma-delimited values (CSV) (Zip format 26K)
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Assessment of Coverage in the Arrest-Related Deaths Program Provides an executive summary of the Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD) component of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) technical assessment report. Data from the ARD represent a national accounting of persons who have died during the process of arrest, including homicides by law enforcement personnel and deaths attributed to suicide, intoxication, accidental injury, and natural causes. | |
PDF (501KB) | ASCII file (4KB) | Comma-delimited (CSV) (Zip format 4KB)
Part of the Arrest-Related Deaths Series |
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Local Police Departments, 2013: Equipment and Technology Presents findings on local police departments by population served in 2013, including comparisons with previous survey years. | |
Press Release (8KB) | Summary (PDF 243KB) | PDF (640KB) | ASCII file (25KB) | Comma-delimited format (.csv) (Zip format 38KB)
Part of the Local Police Departments Series |
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Local Police Departments, 2013: Personnel, Policies, and Practices Presents findings on local police departments by population served in 2013, including comparisons with previous surveys dating back to 1987. | |
Press Release | Executive Summary (PDF 85K) | PDF (751K) | ASCII file (36K) | Comma-delimited format (.csv) (Zip format 46K)
Part of the Local Police Departments Series |
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Arrest-Related Deaths Program: Data Quality Profile Provides a data quality profile of the Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD) component of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP). | |
PDF (609K) | ASCII file (65K) | Zip format (59K)
Part of the Arrest-Related Deaths Series |
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Arrest-Related Deaths Program Assessment: Technical Report Provides a technical assessment of the coverage of the Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD) component of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP). | |
PDF (1.4M) | ASCII file (114K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 37M)
Part of the Arrest-Related Deaths Series |
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Requests for Police Assistance, 2011 Examines the characteristics and experiences of persons age 16 or older who contacted police to request assistance in 2011. | |
Press Release | PDF (952K) | ASCII file (23K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 33K)
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Police Behavior during Traffic and Street Stops, 2011 Examines the characteristics and experiences of persons age 16 or older who were stopped by police during traffic and street stops, and their perceptions of police behavior and response during these encounters. | |
Press Release | PDF (1.8M) | ASCII file (52K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 64K)
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Sheriffs' Offices, 2007 - Statistical Tables Presents data collected from a nationally representative sample of sheriffs' offices on a variety of agency characteristics. | |
PDF (706K) | ASCII file (16K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 65K)
Part of the Sheriffs' Office Series |
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Arrest-Related Deaths, 2003-2009 - Statistical Tables Provides data on the circumstances of deaths that occur during, or shortly after, state or local law enforcement officers engage in an arrest or restraint process. | |
Press Release | PDF (1M) | ASCII file (23K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 44K)
Part of the Arrest-Related Deaths Series |
Terms & Definitions |
Deadly or Lethal Force | Force that a law enforcement officer uses with the purpose of causing, or that the officer knows to create a substantial risk of causing, death, or serious bodily harm. |
Excessive Use of Force | The application of lawful use of force in too many separate incidents. |
Non-Deadly or Less-Lethal Force | The level of force required to gain compliance that is not known to or intended to create serious bodily harm or death. |
Use of Excessive Force | The application of force beyond what is reasonably believed to be necessary to gain compliance from a subject in any given incident. |
Use of Force | The amount of effort required by law enforcement to gain compliance from an unwilling subject. |
Related Links |
Additional Info |
U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1999). Use of Force by Police: Overview of National and Local Data. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
McEwen, T. (1996). National Data Collection on Police Use of Force. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
International Association of Chiefs of Police & Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2012). Emerging Use of Force Issues: Balancing Public and Officer Safety.
International Association of Chiefs of Police. (2001). Police Use of Force in America.
National Institute of Justice. (2012). Police Use of Force.
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (2015). Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
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