2019

Lieutenant M.A. Bariso

Virginia Beach Police Department

Annual Use of Force Analysis

CALEA 4.2.4

INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM

DATE: March 23, 2020

TO: Chief J. A. Cervera via chain of command

FROM: Lieutenant M.A. Bariso

SUBJECT: 2019 Use of Force Analysis CALEA 4.2.4

In accordance with Department policy and CALEA standards, the Office of Internal Affairs (IA) is tasked with preparing a report for the Chief of Police on the use of force (UOF) by personnel that occurred during the prior year, and will recommend any necessary training, equipment, or policy modifications. The following is a statistical analysis of use of force by officers of the Virginia Beach Police Department during the period of January through December 2019. Data for this study was derived from Use of Force reports generated utilizing the “BlueTeam” software application. These reports were completed by the involved officers and reviewed by their chain of command for policy implications and quality control. The reports are then electronically forwarded to the Office of Internal Affairs for review of content, clarity and compliance to policy. Once finalized by IA, the digital report is then “pushed” into the parent data base of IAPro. Individual cases where improper, unnecessary, or questionable force was used are forwarded to Professional Development and Training (PD&T) for analysis relating to training and policy recommendations. Department policy mandates that a Use of Force report will be completed by all sworn personnel under the following circumstances: The officer purposefully and intentionally discharges a firearm for other than recreational or

training purposes. The officer takes any action that results in or is alleged to have resulted in the injury or death

of another person. The officer applies force using a lethal or less lethal weapon. The officer uses hands-on or greater physical force to seize, control, or repel any individual

that demonstrates non-compliant behavior or is perceived by the officer to otherwise pose a threat of harm to others or him/her.

POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICE OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS (757) 385-4145 FAX (757) 385-4007

MUNICIPAL CENTER BUILDING 11

2509 PRINCESS ANNE ROAD VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23456

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When an officer points their firearm at a person. In situations such as a hostage situation, a drug raid, or when more than one officer would have his weapon pointed at an individual, the on-scene supervisor will complete a single UOF report documenting the incident.

All uses of an electronic control device (ECD) against a citizen. This includes any discharge of the weapon and situations where the officer merely removes the weapon from its holster and displays it in a manner designed to encourage compliance by the citizen.

Uses of Force reports generate three types of administrative investigation incidents when they are entered IAPro: Firearm Discharge Vehicle Pursuit General Use of Force

Use of Force (UOF) – Total Incidents In 2019 there were 737 UOF incidents as compared to 652 in 2018 and 654 in 2017. In 2019 it was reported that 1518 officers were involved in these uses of force as compared to 2018 when there were 1390 and in 2017 there were 1298 officers involved. This shows there has been an increase in reported UOF incidents over the year accompanied by a rise in the involved officers. It is important to note that most incidents will have more than one type of force used and may have more than one officer or suspects involved. This would still be noted as one incident.

659 629 654 652737

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Total Use of Force Incidents by Year

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2019 uses of force contain data labels.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

20152016

20172018

2019

1230

1018

1268 13481518

Total Officers Involved in Use of Force Incidents

1296

52 8940 4

60 21 5 2 4 983

187

1 4 4 8 12 23 8 10

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Types of Force Used by Officers 2018 & 2019

2018 2019

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Use of Force by Precinct

2019 numbers of Officers contain data labels The above chart depicts UOF events sorted by the command. UOF reporting trends were found to follow consistent patterns for all commands except for the Second Precinct which saw a rise from 455 incidents in 2018 to 559 in 2019. The use of force is justified only when it meets the “objectively reasonable” standard of the Fourth amendment – as established in Tennessee v. Garner and Graham v. Connor.

154

559

266

169

117

24 14 90

100

200

300

400

500

600

1st Precinct 2nd Precinct 3rd Precinct 4th Precinct Special Ops Detective Special Inv All Other

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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Types of Encounters that required Use of Force (CALEA 4.2.4 (LE1) b.) Actively resistant citizens are the largest category against which officers use force. Assaultive citizens are the next largest group.

0 200 400 600 800

Animal Euthanasia

pursuit

Other

Off Duty/Part time

Assisting a Citizen

Search Warrant

Prisoner In Custody

Warrant Service

Officer Initiated

Traffic Stop

Assisting Officer

C.I.T. Call for Service

Call for Service

Arrest

1

5

27

13

19

62

16

23

36

56

55

202

238

664

Citizen resistance Tally: Reason Count 2018 Count 2019 Active Resistant 858 722 Assaultive 312 245 Assaultive-Serious Injury/Death 11 7 No resistance 113 114 Other 29 18 Passive Resistant 176 176 Suspect Armed 47 48 Suspect Fled on Foot 179 93 Suspect Fled in Vehicle 24 12

Officers were asked what type of service / function they were providing just prior to the use of force becoming necessary. Arrests and response to calls for service account for 664 of all incidents where force is applied by officers; nearly consistent with what was reported in with 2018. CIT calls accounted for another 202.

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Top 10 UOF Arrests For 2019 The top ten reasons for officers UOF in 2019 are identical to 2018.

Reasons for Use of Force

108

132

233

113

171

116

226

72

114

159

0 50 100 150 200 250

ECO/TDO

Resist Arrest

Public Intox

Poss. Drugs

Other Misd.

Other Felony

Obstruct Justice

Domestic Assault

Disorderly Conduct

Assault on LEO

0 200 400 600

Prevent Dangerouse Felony

Protect First Responder

Other/ UNK reason

Protect involved Citizen

Protect Citizen

Protect Officer

Prevent Escape

Protect Self

Aggressive Animal

Overcome Resistance

As the graph indicates, the number one reason officers stated they used force was to overcome resistance. “Protect Involved Citizen” category used by officers reflects CIT cases where an officer used force to subdue a person suffering from a mental illness and presented a danger to themselves.

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Use of Force in Crisis Intervention Team/Emotional Disturbed Persons Encounters The City of Virginia Beach has one of the highest populations of mentally ill and seriously mentally ill persons in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition, being a resort city, sometimes those suffering various forms of mental illness from around the country, find themselves in Virginia Beach when they suffer a mental health crisis. The Virginia Beach Police Department is the sole law enforcement agency within this jurisdiction with the responsibility to respond to calls for service involving emotional disturbed persons and those suffering a mental health crisis. The Department is responsible for handling all emergency custody orders (ECOs): taking those suffering a mental health crisis or suffering from mental illness, into initial custody so that those persons can be evaluated. VBPD also has the sole law enforcement responsibility for serving temporary detentions orders (TDOs) on those requiring mental health treatment and transportation to the identified treatment locations. These orders often involve transporting the customer outside of city limits sometimes up to eight hours away. They may also involve picking up a Virginia Beach resident from another jurisdiction and then transporting that customer to distant location. The VBPD continued to increase the number of certified Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officers and continued to implement a service-oriented rather than a primarily law enforcement-oriented approach to those suffering mental health crises. In 2019, Virginia Beach officers served 1041 judicial and non-judicial Emergency Custody Orders (paper and paper-less ECOs) and Temporary Detention Orders (TDOs). In addition, VBPD officers responded to 2,589 cases of different types that were later determined to be a result of someone suffering a mental health crisis. In 2019, Virginia Beach police officers used force in 103 of the 2589 separate incidents or approximately four percent of the time. In total 247 officers were involved in the 103 incidents, and they reported utilizing different types of force before successfully taking a person into initial civil mental custody. The types of force break down for CIT cases are as follows:

• Control Techniques 191 • Defensive Tactics 13 • OC/pepper spray 2 • Other 16 • SAGE fired 1 • SAGE pointed 4 • Taser Displayed/pointed 16 • Service Weapon pointed 14 • Patrol Carbine pointed 25 • Taser fired 9 • Service Weapon Discharged 1 • Ram/Door Breach Used 1

In most instances more than one level of force was used to detain the suspect. This shows officers are using escalation and de-escalation as needed.

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Date and time of incidents (CALEA 4.2.4 a.)

• The average reported incidents in 2019 was sixty-one per month. • This chart shows the total uses of force incidents by month. • Each step in the officer’s use of force must be documented to show escalation and de-

escalation of the incident as needed, based on the force presented by the perpetrator. • As expected UOF incidents rise in April as the spring season at the oceanfront begins and then

peek in July and then rise again in December.

Uses of Force by the day of the week

51 49 51

6760

56

7772

77

65

47

65

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

Use of Force by Month

2019

137

10093

75

90 90

125

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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Although the chart on the previous page shows are busiest day of the week to be Sunday this is offset by Saturday night into Sunday morning uses of force being counted as Sunday. Uses of Force by time of day

Uses of Force by Race, Age, and Gender (CALEA 4.2.4 (LE1) c.) Force was reported to have been used against a total of 785 citizens during 2019 this includes incidents where more than one suspect was involved in the use of force. Gender:

32%

11%20%

37%0001-0559

0600-1159

1200-1759

1800-2400

Male , 603

Female, 176Unknown, 6

Use of Force by Gender

Male

Female

Unknown

The most frequent time frame force is used is between 1800-2400. The most uses of force occurred between 0200 and 0300 with a total of 96 incidents.

In 2019 force was used against 176 (22%) females, 603 (77%) against males, and 6 (1%) were listed as unknown. 2018 - 25% female,

75% male 2017 – 23% female,

77% male 2016 – 22% female,

78% male

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The included data shows that over the last four years our department has remained fairly consistence with arrests consisting of approximately 23% female and 77% male. Use of Force by Age of Offender

The youngest person force was reportedly used against was a seven-year-old male and the oldest use of force was against a 74-year-old female. This data was not recorded last year; therefore, the information is not readily available.

60

263

218

117

6330

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

7-16 years 17-26 27-36 37-46 47-57 57 or over

Age of the offender

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Use of Force by Race: Virginia Beach reports the involved parties’ race in one of six different categories; White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, other, and unknown. Other is usually defined as a person who is more than one race, Native American, and Pacific Islander. Unknown would usually be from a suspect that had eluded officers and was not detained or would not provide the requested information to the involved officer.

Of the 785 suspects officers used force against in 2019, 368(47%) were Black, 338(43%) were White, 40(5%) were Hispanic, 30(4%) were listed unknown, 5(.5) were Asian, 4(.5) were listed as other. UOF against Black people dropped 7% and was up 2% against White people, the two largest categories. Below is the last reported four years reported for these categories.

o 2018 - 54% Black/ 41% White o 2017 – 54% Black / 42% White o 2016 – 57% Black / 38% White o 2015 – 51% Black / 43% White

Force against Asian and Hispanic was essentially unchanged from the rate reported in 2018. Unknown information was not previously captured and other was listed in 2018 as .02%

338

368

40

5

4

30

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

White

Black

Hispanic

Asian

Other

Unknown

2019 Use of Force by Race

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Injuries reported during Use of Force involving Officers or Citizens CALEA 4.2.4(LE1) d. Reported Citizen Injuries: 2019 data reflexes a 19.24% injury rate in use of force incidents almost equal to the rate in 2018.

o 2018 - 19% injury rate o 2017 – 21% injury rate o 2016 – 20% injury rate o 2015 – 23% injury rate

8

110

1

15

1

2

2

5

1

1

1

3

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Medical Treatment Refused

Apparent Minor Injury

Died

K-9 Bite

Hospital Outpatient Treatment

Medical Staff at Jail

Other injury

Rescue Treated on scene

Rescue treated at lockup

Possible Internal Injury

Other Major injury

Admitted to Hospital

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Out of 151 complaints of injury, 118 or over 78% were classified as minor or treatment refused. Of the remaining complaints, 15 were K9 bites and another nine were treated by rescue, jail staff, or outpatient treatment. The remaining 9 are detailed below.

• Five were documented incorrectly • One for CIT reasons (not from officer actions) • One fatal shooting • One possible internal injury from a SAGE round, but no additional information on injuries is available. • Other Major Injury was documented in the chance anything happen to a pregnant female force was

used against.

Reported Officer Injuries (CALEA 4.24 d.) The total number of use of force reports completed by officers in 2019 was 1439. During these encounter officers reported injuries to themselves occurred 88 times, or 6% of the time. This is one percent higher than 2018 and equal to 2017. Of these injuries 71 were listed as apparent minor injury, 4 were treated as hospital outpatient, 3 are listed as other injury, 2 refused treatment, another 2 were treated by rescue on scene, 2 are listed as unknown, 1 is listed as other treatment, and 1 was treated at city jail. Two other officers reported possible internal injury, one was an officer who was struck in the head and has returned to work and the other was documented incorrectly. (UOF2019-485A).

1439 13371093 1073

88

70

64 72

0

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400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2019 2018 2017 2016

Reported Officer Injuries

Total Use of Fore Reports No Injury

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Internal investigations accounted for two of the UOF cases investigated by Internal Affairs. Citizen complaints accounted for the other nine. Out of all individual UOF allegations against officers one was sustained, two were unfounded, and eight were exonerated. Use of Force Board

The Department’s Use of Force Board comprised of members of Professional Development and Training, members of the Operations Command, and UOF certified instructors meet when the Chief, Deputy Chief, or a commanding officer requests a case review, or a citizen is seriously injured or killed in a UOF incident, or a citizen complains about a UOF incident. The committee reviews applications of UOF and the associated reports to identify training needs and areas where policy or training practices may have been violated or needs to be reviewed or modified. In 2019, nine cases were heard by the Use of Force Board. All cases were found to be with in the polices and practices of the Virginia Beach Findings, Practices, Equipment, and Training CALEA 4.2.4 (LE1) e. In 2019 Virginia Beach Police officers responded to 163,134 calls for service. Officers also took police enforcement action in the form of felony and misdemeanor arrests or through the issuance of traffic summonses against 61,884 individuals, yet there were only 737 individual use force incidents where force was used on 785 individuals. The VBPD continues to pursue proactive crime control efforts as part of our Community Oriented Policing strategy, our departmental mission statement and through our goals and objectives, but at the

11

26

24

27

History of Use of Force Complaints

201920182017

In 2019 complaints for excessive use of force were down significantly to 11. The 2nd Precinct and 3rd Precincts had the most allegations of excessive force with four each, the 4th Precinct had two, and the 1st Precinct had one. These include complaints made by citizens or through an internal investigation requested by the command.

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same time has been emphasizing de-escalation techniques and the use of verbal skills which may explain the extremely low levels of UOF incidents versus the amount of contact VBPD officers have with citizens throughout the year.

The 2019 year-end data continues a trend whereby officers are applying force at the lowest level possible. Control techniques were also the most frequently applied type of UOF employed by VBPD officers at 85%. This shows the overwhelming amount of time the officer is using the least amount of force, when force is required. As with 2018 and 2017, these categories also report the highest levels of ineffectiveness, which indicates that officers are starting low and moving to higher levels of force to affect an arrest or control the event. Most force is applied during arrest situations and in response to the officer overcoming resistance. This is indicative of the proper utilization of our UOF policy, training protocols, and organizational values.

In 2019, 6% of officers involved in a UOF incident were reported to have been injured. In 2018 data indicated that during 5% of UOF applications, the officer reported being injured. The injury rate to citizens stayed relatively the same from 2018 (19%) to 2019(19.24) which is down from the rate reported in 2017 (21%).

This year our Department has continued to maintain our training standards and added an additional optional training day for defensive tactics. All uniformed officers and sergeants

We have completed our upgrades on the issued Tasers, we have obtained new helmets to protect citizens from hurting themselves and have increased our amount of body worn cameras on the street. This report indicates that our current Departmental Policy on Use of Force is functional, practical and is being followed by our officers. The data further supports that the policy meets the needs of our community and that the citizens, we serve, are satisfied with both policy and application. As there is always room for improvement, the following recommendations are offered:

• Training for supervisors and officers should continue with a heavy emphasis on UOF report writing and scrutiny of such documents.

• Continue CIT certification training for self-selected officers and awareness training for other officers and civilian employees, to inculcate CIT as a department-wide philosophy.

The following UOF training courses are being offered or provided to our officers this year during

optional or in-service training to maintain our high standards and reinforce our core values:

Crowd Management/crowd mentality (mandatory) Three days of Firearms In-service (mandatory) Crisis Intervention (CIT) Certification Training full course (optional) Defensive Tactics and de-escalation techniques (mandatory) Defensive Tactics (optional) Rapid Response (mandatory) Mobile tactics squad training (mandatory for officers assigned to MT)