In the wake of recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, Chicago, and Baltimore the use of force by police officers has come into question. KMTV and Scripps investigate whether a perceived increase in police use of force is really accurate.
Use of force has been a controversial topic for a while in the U.S. because of videos that can show the harsh realities of what happens on our streets.
Over the past several months our Scripps investigative team of reporters dug into use of force records from police agencies across the country. We discovered more than half of the agencies show use of force actually going down, and just a quarter with use of force on the rise.
With multiple controversial incidents nationally some say it's a small number compared to the number of police contacts each day.
"Right now of course our biggest mission is trying to make sure that we have public confidence and public trust in what the men and women do on the streets every single day,” said Richard Beary, the President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The Omaha Police Department says there's one use of force incident for every 900 radio calls. There were 227,000 calls for OPD last year. KMTV gathered the totals from OPD and compared them over the past 5 years.
Here are the results:
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
| Firearm Discharged | 62 | 53 | 60 | 55 | 39 | 44 |
| Deadly Force Death | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Taser/ECD | 78 | 48 | 60 | 62 | 54 | 26* |
| Chemical Agents | 24 | 29 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 8* |
| Physical Force (Bodily) | 366 | 341 | 284 | 314 | 287 | 253 |
| Total Use of Force | 545 | 489 | 437 | 471 | 425 | 220* |
*=(through 6/2015)
OPD Deputy Chief Greg Gonzalez says the downward trends are attributed to adding about 100 officers over the last year and a half.
"First and foremost training is very important for our officers to have mandatory training throughout the year, and we know over the course of the last 5 years our numbers are trending down,” Deputy Chief Gonzalez explained. “We know we've had some positive results in the use of force because we have more officers on the street. We know a lot of that is attributed to our relationship with the community.”
For the first time ever the OPD Policy and Procedures Manual is being overhauled and is online right now for the public to view.
Deputy Chief Gonzalez says OPD Chief Todd Schmaderer wants to be transparent, build public trust, and help answer any questions residents have about what procedures officers are expected to follow.
To view the manual go to: http://opd.ci.omaha.ne.us/images/OmahaPoliceDepartmentPoliciesandProceduresManual08-12-2014.pdf
