National Data on Police Use of Force 1
National Data on Citizen Complaints about Police Use of Force:
Data Quality Concerns and the Potential (Mis)use of Statistical Evidence to Address
Police Agency Conduct
Matthew J. Hickman*
Jane E. Poore
[DRAFT VERSION 1/26/15]
* This study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice (Award No.
2013-R2-CX-0035). Corresponding author: Matthew J. Hickman, Ph.D., Seattle
University, Department of Criminal Justice, 901 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122. T: 206296-2484; E: hickmanm@seattleu.edu.
National Data on Police Use of Force 2
Abstract
National data on citizen complaints about police use of force were collected by
the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in 2003 and 2007. These data are a critical
component of the Department of Justice’s overall response to 42 USC 14142, which
requires the Attorney General to “acquire data about the use of excessive force by law
enforcement officers.” The BJS data have the potential to help support democratic
policing, provide useful baseline data on use of force for comparative statistical reporting
and research purposes, and enable strong local checks on police abuses, provided that
their validity and reliability can be demonstrated. This study sought to assess the validity
and reliability of the BJS data. Findings indicate that the BJS data suffer from serious, if
not fatal, measurement flaws. The BJS data on citizen complaints do not provide a valid
and reliable basis for comparative statistical reporting and research purposes, and should
not be relied upon for purposes of litigation.
National Data on Police Use of Force 3
National Data on Citizen Complaints about Police Use of Force:
Data Quality Concerns and the Potential (Mis)use of Statistical Evidence to Address
Police Agency Conduct
To truly engage in “democratic policing,” a nation-state must systematically
examine law enforcement activity in order to ensure that the democratic ideals of
transparency, accountability, and – perhaps most important – fundamental fairness, are
reflected in police behavior (Bayley, 2006; Hickman, 2009; Luna, 2000; Sklansky, 2008;
Skolnick, 1999). Democratic policing is therefore best viewed as an ongoing process
rather than an achievable end in itself. While the U.S. presently employs a broad array of
social and economic indicators in order to gauge the overall “health” of the nation, it has
a much more limited set of indicators concerning the behavior of the police and the
quality of law enforcement. We should seek to develop not only evidence that our police
are enforcing the law while obeying the law, but also basic indicators about the quality of
police-citizen interactions, the potential role of extralegal factors in policing, and
particularly the use of force given its centrality to the police role (Bittner, 1970).
National data on public perceptions of police behavior and legitimacy (Tyler, 2002) are
also essential to understanding democratic policing.
In the wake of recent high-profile incidents (including the cases of Michael
Brown in Ferguson, MO, and Eric Garner in New York), it is disturbing and even
somewhat hypocritical that the nation known as the leading global advocate of
democracy (and democratic policing) actually collects and reports very little of this type
of information. As the late Professor and former NYPD Officer James Fyfe (2002: 99)
National Data on Police Use of Force 4
remarked, “… we still live in a society in which the best data on police use of force come
to us not from the government or from scholars, but from the Washington Post.”
Likewise, Robert Kane (2007: 776) has noted that, “… it is both ironic and unacceptable
that in American democratic society, the police, which function as the most visible
representatives of the crime control bureaucracy, collect data on members of the public in
the form of arrest and complaint reports without systematically distributing
comprehensive data on their own activities that produced those crime statistics.” These
assessments were valid when written, and remain so today. National media reaction to
the incidents in Ferguson and New York included some outrage at the fact that we simply
do not know how often police in the U.S. use deadly force upon its citizens (e.g., Doyle,
2014; Lowery, 2014), and the U.S. Attorney General also recently expressed dismay over
the lack of data on police use of force (Berman, 2015).
What do we know about the nature and extent of police use of force in the United
States, and how do we know it? In a review of the literature conducted as part of an
effort to construct an improved national estimate of police use of nonlethal force,
Hickman et al. (2008) found that the majority of studies producing an incident-based rate
of police use of force were based on data from a single jurisdiction, and the methods were
quite diverse as were the units of analysis. Somewhat unsurprisingly, across 36 studies
reporting on the amount of nonlethal force used by the police, rates varied from about a
tenth of one percent up to almost 32%. While recognizing the inherent value of a
diversity of methodological approaches, Engel (2008) noted that the literature reflects a
failure to adequately conceptualize and measure police use of force, and that current
National Data on Police Use of Force 5
approaches to understanding force on a national level are not achieving those goals,
though some may question whether precision is a worthwhile goal (e.g., see Klinger,
2008; Smith, 2008).
The lack of national data and the limited state of knowledge about police use of
force is all the more disturbing considering that for the past 20 or more years, the U.S.
Attorney General has been legally obligated to produce such information and has failed
to make any substantial progress. Section 210402 of the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994, codified as 42 USC 14142, requires the Attorney General to
“acquire data about the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers” and to
“publish an annual summary of the data acquired under this section.” So where are these
annual summaries of police use of excessive force?
In this study, we focus on a particularly important source of data bearing on
democratic policing – citizen’s complaints about police use of force. The Bureau of
Justice Statistics (BJS) collected these data from police departments in two waves of their
Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey program.
The present study sought to address the validity and reliability of these data by examining
within-agency change across the two survey waves and attempting to validate data for
agencies reporting extreme changes, as well as attempting to validate data for a random
sample of agencies. We begin with a review of the literature on national-level data about
police use of force, and specifically citizen complaints (including sub-national data). We
then turn to our study methodology, the results, and a discussion of the findings and their
importance for policy and practice.
National Data on Police Use of Force 6
Literature Review
National-level Data on Use of Force
The principal federal response to the use of force data collection requirement
mentioned earlier (42 USC 14142), and the only systematic, national-level data collection
on police-citizen interactions at present, is the Police Public Contact Survey (PPCS)
administered by BJS. The PPCS is a supplement to the National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS), and the goal is to provide national estimates of the incidence and
prevalence of citizen contacts with the police. The PPCS also seeks to describe the
nature of those contacts, including whether the police used or threatened the use of force,
the specific actions they took, as well as any potentially provoking citizen behaviors. The
PPCS has been administered every three years since 1999. The NCVS-based sample for
the 2011 PPCS (the most recent at the time of writing) included 62,280 persons age 16 or
older, with completed interviews for 49,246 persons. The sample is weighted to
represent a national estimate of 241 million persons age 16 or older.
The 2002 BJS Survey of Inmates in Local Jails (SILJ) also provided some
information about police use of force, although BJS has never analyzed or reported on
these data. The SILJ is a computer-assisted personal interview conducted with a
nationally representative sample of jail inmates, and covering a broad range of topics (for
details see James, 2004). Importantly, the SILJ contained items that parallel those
included in the PPCS; thus, jail inmates are asked about the use or threat of force
experienced at the time of their arrest. Analysis of the inmate data demonstrates that the
National Data on Police Use of Force 7
PPCS underestimates force due to the exclusion of the recently incarcerated (the PPCS
accounts for about 87% of the total force incidents derived from both sources), and that
the inmate sample is more likely to experience force, a much higher level of force, and is
more likely to report injury from force (Hickman et al., 2008). However, demographic
characteristics are substantively similar across the two data sources: males, blacks, and
youth are more likely to experience force.
The BJS Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) has provided national
data on arrest-related deaths. DCRP data on law enforcement homicides (both justifiable
and unjustifiable) are substantively similar to those obtained by the FBI’s Supplemental
Homicide Reports (SHR); specifically, 97% of law enforcement homicides involved a
male subject, the average age was 33 years, more than 80% were killed by a handgun,
and about 30% involved a black subject (Mumola, 2007). The DCRP data indicate that
about 56% of all arrest-related deaths involved a minority subject (suicide is the only
category of arrest-related deaths in which whites are the majority) (Mumola, 2007).
Finally, the BJS LEMAS survey, which is presently the most systematic and
comprehensive source of national data on law enforcement personnel, expenditures and
pay, operations, equipment, and policies and procedures, also has collected data om use
of force. The LEMAS surveys have been conducted roughly every three years since
1987, and provide national estimates for all state and local law enforcement agencies
based on a representative sample of about 3,000 agencies. In the 2003 and 2007
iterations of LEMAS, data were collected on formal citizen complaints about police use
of force. The LEMAS data provide information on the volume and rate of complaints as
National Data on Police Use of Force 8
well as complaint dispositions. Importantly, the LEMAS platform can also be used in
conjunction with other data (such as Census Bureau data) to explore issues such as
minority representation and structural correlates of citizen complaints (Hickman &
Piquero, 1999). The LEMAS complaints data have also found diverse application in the
field, including being used to establish “baselines” for larger police departments in their
annual reports, as well as in Monell litigation involving police departments. We will
return to these issues later in the paper.
The LEMAS questions on citizen complaints were motivated in part by Fyfe’s
(2002) paper on the lack of data on the use of deadly force (which was part of a larger
National Academy of Sciences panel focused on BJS police data series), and in
consultation with Fyfe and other scholars engaged in the study of police use of force, it
became clear that one viable option was to harness the LEMAS survey for these
purposes. These discussions led to the development of items that were incorporated into
the 2003 LEMAS survey instrument for the purpose of collecting official departmental
data on citizen complaints about police use of force. These data were collected from
large agencies (those with 100 or more officers) as an initial effort that could potentially
lead to broader or more detailed use of force data collection. This initial foray was
successful in that it provided evidence that police departments were, if nothing else, at
least generally willing and able to provide this type of information.
The 2007 LEMAS data (referencing calendar year 2006 complaints data) were
expanded beyond large agencies to include sampled smaller agencies. However, the
complaints data were restricted to include the total received, pending, sustained, or
National Data on Police Use of Force 9
having some other, non-specified disposition. This is unfortunate given that there is
substantial interest in both the academic and practitioner communities regarding
unfounded complaints in particular, but it is also recognized that omnibus surveys often
have to sacrifice detail for broad scope. The 2006 complaints data were never reported
on by BJS. LEMAS data were not collected as scheduled for 2010, and the 2012
collection is being processed as of this writing.
Citizen Complaints
The academic literature on citizen complaints can be organized in terms of studies
about the receipt and processing of complaints (Brandl et al., 2001; Dugan & Breda,
1991; Griswold, 1994; Hassell & Archbold, 2010; Hickman et al., 2000; Hickman, 2006;
Hudson, 1970; Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991;
Lersch & Mieczkowski, 1996; Liederbach et al., 2007; Littlejohn, 1981; Pate & Fridell,
1993; Wagner, 1980a, 1980b; Worrall, 2002), the characteristics of officers who are the
subjects of complaints (Brandl et al., 2001; Harris, 2009, 2001; Hassell & Archbold,
2010; Hickman et al., 2000; Lersch & Mieczkowski, 1996, 2000; Liederbach et al., 2007;
Pate & Fridell, 1993; Wagner, 1980a), and the characteristics of complainants (Hudson,
1970; Lersch & Mieczkowski, 1996; Liederbach et al., 2007; Pate & Fridell, 1993;
Wagner, 1980b). There is also literature focused on the structural correlates of complaint
volumes and dispositions, such as agency organizational characteristics, the presence of
external review entities, agency policies and procedures, and community demographics
(Brandl, 2001; Cao, 1999; Cao et al., 2000; Griswold, 1994; Hassell & Archbold, 2010;
National Data on Police Use of Force 10
Hickman et al., 2000; Hickman 2006; Hickman & Piquero, 1999; Lawton et al., 2001;
Lersch, 1998; Lersch & Mieczkowski, 1996, 2000; Shjarback, forthcoming; Walker et
al., 2001; Worden et al., 2013; Worrall, 2002). Finally, there are at least two nationallevel data collection efforts (Hickman, 2006; Pate & Fridell, 1993).
One of the challenges in synthesizing this literature is that police complaint
processes are somewhat idiosyncratic, owing to different intake processes, unique codes
of conduct, varying types and layers of decision making processes, different degrees of
internal and external review, as well as differing policies and procedures, some of which
are negotiated with collective bargaining units. Despite historic attempts by Presidential
Commissions, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and others during
the 1970’s to encourage some degree of standardization and consistency as part of the
process of formalizing police complaints and disciplinary systems, much of the
idiosyncrasy that remains is tied to the individual department histories and traditions.
Nevertheless, the available literature on complaint processing indicates that, in general:
•
•
•
•
•
•
A relatively small proportion of officers are responsible for a large
proportion of complaints, but this has generally been linked to arrest
activity and other measures of productivity;
On-view incidents and more “proactive” policing assignments may be
more likely to lead to complaints than dispatched calls;
Minority citizens complain in numbers disproportionately greater than
their representation in the population served, and this is particularly true
for black citizens;
Minority officers are disproportionately the subject of citizen complaints,
as well as internal (police-initiated) complaints;
There is wide variation in sustain rates across agencies, some of which is
attributable to structural differences, but also to idiosyncrasies in the
processing of complaints;
In general, sustain rates are lower for physical force complaints as
compared to other types of complaints;
National Data on Police Use of Force 11
•
Internal (police-initiated) complaints tend to have higher sustain rates than
citizen complaints.
The idiosyncrasies in complaint processing noted above should give rise to
concern over national level data collection efforts. This is not to say that such efforts
should not be undertaken; rather, a careful program of research and development is
needed in order to understand whether the data can be collected, and with what degree of
validity and reliability.
Probably the first national-level study of citizen complaints was conducted by
Pate & Fridell (1993) for the Police Foundation. Their study focused on police use of
force broadly (including agency policies and procedures, training, official reports, citizen
complaints, and so forth), and collected data via an establishment survey of 1,111
agencies. 840 agencies provided data on citizen complaints about police use of force.
Collectively, they reported 15,608 complaints during 1991, with rates of complaint
varying by size and type of agency. Pate & Fridell (1993, p. 95) reported that minorities
composed 48.4% of the population served and 58.6% of those filing complaints of
excessive force among 215 city police departments. Blacks, in particular, were
overrepresented, composing 21.4% of the population served but 42.3% of those filing
complaints. Sustained complaints also varied by race of complainant, with black
complainants accounting for 27.3% of sustained complaints. In terms of officer
characteristics, black officers comprised 13.3% of sworn officers in city police
departments, and 12.5% of those with citizen complaints of excessive force (in contrast,
Hispanic and “other” officers were overrepresented in complaints). However, black
National Data on Police Use of Force 12
officers were disproportionately represented in sustained complaints (17.3%) compared
to other race/ethnicity categories.
The 2003 LEMAS complaints data are referenced to calendar year 2002, and
provide interesting data for researchers and for police departments. For example, large
municipal police departments received a total of 22,238 citizen complaints about police
use of force during 2002, corresponding to overall rates of 45 force complaints per
agency, 9.5 per 100 full-time sworn officers, and 2.4 per 10,000 residents (Hickman,
2006). Eight percent of these complaints were officially sustained, meaning there was
sufficient evidence to justify disciplinary action against the subject officer(s). Other
dispositions included: not sustained (37%), meaning that there was insufficient evidence
to prove the allegation; unfounded (25%), meaning that the complaint was not based on
facts, or the reported incident did not occur; exonerated (21%), meaning that the incident
occurred, but the officer’s action was deemed lawful and proper; and 9% had some other
disposition, such as the complaint being withdrawn. As previously mentioned, BJS
collected a second wave in 2007 (referenced to calendar year 2006) but never reported on
them.
Validity Concerns
One commonly expressed concern about the LEMAS program is that BJS should
invest more in validation research. There are of course data quality checks in place to
ensure that survey responses are internally consistent, and substantial differences in
quantitative data from previous iterations (primarily among large agencies) are normally
National Data on Police Use of Force 13
both automatically and manually checked. Yet these checks are no match for true
validation studies that assess the degree to which the data reported by agencies in
LEMAS reflects reality based on some external criterion.
Walker & Katz (1995) examined bias crime units in 16 municipal police
departments in the central region of the U.S. These 16 agencies were selected in part
because they had reported having a bias crime unit on the 1990 LEMAS survey. Walker
& Katz conducted telephone interviews with the officers in charge of the bias crime units
in those agencies. However, they found that only four of these agencies actually had
such a unit, six other agencies had designated officers in other units to handle the bias
crime function as needed, and the remainder had no unit, designated officers, or special
procedures for bias crimes.
Some scholars have raised concerns about the LEMAS agency and employee
counts (Maguire et al., 1998; Uchida & King, 2002). Maguire et al. (1998), for example,
noted discrepancies between the number of agencies and officers enumerated across the
UCR, LEMAS, and data collected by the Office of Community-Oriented Policing
Services, suggesting that LEMAS substantially undercounted agencies and officers in the
mid-1990’s. Langworthy (2002) raised concerns about the reliability of data items
pertaining to the number of patrol beats, as well as low item response rates for calls for
service data.
LEMAS suffers from the common problems of self-administered questionnaires
(such as memory, socially desirable responding, fatigue, indifference) but also those
relatively unique to establishment surveys, such as inadequate record keeping or the
National Data on Police Use of Force 14
“force fitting” of agency records to match the criteria of survey items, and error
attributable to an individual’s response to less quantitative items on behalf of the
organization. BJS invests in pre-testing instrumentation, generally combined with focus
groups comprised of law enforcement representatives (the Police Executive Research
Forum was especially helpful in this regard when that organization was collecting
LEMAS data for BJS, ensuring that the providers – who are also in many cases the end
users – of the data understood and could provide the data being requested as well as
weigh-in on the utility of the data).
BJS has largely relied on the research community for assessments of validity and
reliability, and BJS both learns from and responds to this research. For example, in direct
response to Walker and Katz (1995), BJS modified LEMAS survey items concerning
special units to incorporate expanded response options that did not force an agency into
an “either-or” situation. The present study is in the same spirit and tradition of reliance
on the research community for assistance in establishing data quality. The next section
discusses the study methodology, and is followed by the results and a discussion of the
findings.
Methodology
The study reported here included three phases: (1) merging the 2002 and 2006
complaints data (from the 2003 and 2007 waves of LEMAS data) for large municipal
police departments and conducting basic descriptive analyses of those data; (2) assessing
the reliability of the complaints data by conducting a within-agency comparison of the
National Data on Police Use of Force 15
two years of data; and (3) assessment of the validity of the data using a subsample of
agencies for external validation.
The merging process was complicated by the fact that the agency ID fields
designed by the Census Bureau and in use for several prior waves of the LEMAS survey
were not used by the data collection agent in the 2007 LEMAS survey. However, data
for large municipal police agencies (i.e., self-representing agencies) were successfully
merged at the agency level. The study was necessarily limited to large agencies because
the 2002 complaints data were collected only for these agencies whereas the 2006 data
were expanded into the LEMAS sample of non self-representing agencies.
Following the merging of the two waves of data, the within-agency changes
across the two time points were calculated. We used a distributional rationale for
identifying relatively large changes from 2002 to 2006 in both the volume of complaints
and sustained complaints, as well as rates (per 100 officers). Where very large changes
were observed, we attempted to explain those changes using publically available reports
(such as police department annual reports to the public), any publically accessible records
and/or data, as well as direct contacts with agency personnel via telephone, mail, or
electronic inquiry. This approach primarily addresses reliability (the within-agency
distributional difference across the two waves serves as a reasonable indicator), but also
addresses validity in the assessment of the underlying reasons for substantial changes.
In the third phase, a simple random sample of 100 agencies was selected for
external validation of complaints data using publically available reports, records and/or
data, as well as direct contacts with agency personnel via telephone, mail, or electronic
National Data on Police Use of Force 16
inquiry. A key outcome is the proportion of sampled agencies for which complaints data
reported to LEMAS corresponded with the external criterion, within an acceptable range
(allowing that some minor differences may be expected if an agency had a large number
of cases pending disposition at the time they reported data to LEMAS, and a lag between
that point in time and external measures such as annual reports).
Results
Descriptive Analysis of Merged Waves of LEMAS data
Because BJS never reported on the 2006 complaints data, and we are unaware of
any other published analyses of these data, we begin by providing descriptive statistics
for the merged data. While there were 496 agencies reporting complaints data in 2002,
when the waves of LEMAS were merged, we found that a total of 417 agencies had
reported complaints data for both 2002 and 2006. Among these 417 agencies, there was
an overall increase in the total number of complaints about police use of force from
17,300 complaints in 2002, to 20,330 complaints in 2006 (Table 1). There were also
increases in the overall rate of force complaints per 100 officers, per 100 officers
responding to calls for service, and per 10,000 residents served.
*** Insert Table 1 about here ***
Overall, the change in the number of use of force complaints from 2002 to 2006
(3,030) amounts to a 17.5% increase, ranging from a 9.6% increase among agencies
having 250-499 officers, up to a 55.6% increase among agencies having 100-249 officers
(Table 2). While there was an overall increase in the number of full-time sworn officers
National Data on Police Use of Force 17
during the same time period, there was a slight decrease in the number of officers
responding to calls for service. Populations served increased 2.8% overall. The
corresponding rates of complaint on an officer and resident basis increased overall among
agencies in all size categories.
*** Insert Table 2 about here ***
We also examined complaints that were officially sustained. Among the 417
agencies, there was an overall increase in the total number of sustained complaints from
1,240 complaints in 2002, to 1,863 complaints in 2006 (Table 3). Two agencies did not
report sustained complaints in 2006. Overall, the change in the number of sustained use
of force complaints from 2002 to 2006 amounts to a 50.2% increase, with wide variation
from 5.8% among agencies having 250-499 officers, up to 171.4% among agencies
having 100-249 officers.
*** Insert Table 3 about here ***
Complaint sustain rates (i.e., the percentage of complaints that are sustained) were
also explored. We first subtracted any complaints that were still pending a final
disposition from the total number of complaints in the denominator. Overall, the sustain
rate increased slightly, from 7.8% in 2002 to 9.7% in 2006.
*** Insert Table 4 about here ***
Analysis of Within-Agency Change
We next examined the distribution of within-agency changes in the raw number of
complaints across the two waves. Central tendency and dispersion statistics for the raw
National Data on Police Use of Force 18
change in complaints from 2002 to 2006, by size of agency, are provided in Table 5. As
can be seen, there are some extreme changes in all size categories, ranging overall from a
decline of about 1,000 complaints to an increase of more than 3,000 complaints among
the largest agencies. We focused on those agencies having the most extreme changes in
total complaints (i.e., changes above the 90th percentile or below the 10th percentile)
within categories of agency size. As previously mentioned, we attempted to explain
those changes using publically available reports, records and/or data, as well as direct
contacts with agencies. When we were able to directly verify the data reported for 2002
and 2006 we noted the verification numbers. More commonly, agency personnel
estimated based upon their knowledge of current and historical complaint processing.
We also noted the “nature of the problem” when there were discrepancies. Below we
provide some case examples of specific agencies that highlight some common problems
encountered, as well as the impact on overall figures in LEMAS.
*** Insert Table 5 about here ***
Agencies having 1,000 or more officers
Among the largest agencies (those with 1,000 or more officers), six had what
could be characterized as extreme changes relative to other agencies in the same size
category. Erroneous data for these six agencies alone inflate the total number of
complaints about police use of force reported in 2002 LEMAS data by an estimated 4,351
complaints, or 25% of the total 17,300 complaints for all agencies that reported in both
National Data on Police Use of Force 19
waves of the data collection, and by 38% for agencies within the same size category. For
2006, the inflation is an estimated 4,854 complaints, or 24% of the total 20,330 reported.
The largest raw increase in complaints among this agency size group was reported
by the New York City Police Department (an increase of 3,213 complaints, or 72%, from
2002 to 2006). However, in comparing the reported figures for the NYPD in LEMAS
with available data reported by the NYC CCRB, it is apparent that the LEMAS figures do
not reflect the total number of complaints about police use of force. The NYC CCRB
reports 4,612 complaints in 2002, and 7,669 complaints in 2006, involving Force, Abuse
of Authority, Discourtesy, and Offensive Language (FADO). The figures reported in
LEMAS are 4,450 and 7,663, for 2002 and 2006, respectively, suggesting that the NYPD
likely reported the total FADO complaints from the CCRB in the LEMAS survey. The
NYC CCRB reports that 2,336 complaints had at least one force allegation in 2002, and
this increased to 4,159 in 2006 (an increase of 1,823 complaints, or 78%). This provides
a good example of the “total vs. subset problem” (providing the total number of
complaints rather than the requested subset of force complaints) and it also sheds light on
the potential “cases vs. allegations problem” (complaint cases vs. allegations within
complaint cases).
The largest raw decrease in complaints among this agency size group was
reported by the Detroit Police Department (a decrease of 1,012 complaints, or 86%, from
1,172 reported in the 2002 LEMAS to 160 reported in 2006). Communication with the
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners confirms that the 1,172 figure for 2002 is
approximately the total number of citizen complaints or allegations in that year (their
National Data on Police Use of Force 20
records show 1,113 total complaints, and 1,154 total allegations in 2002, 160 of which
were force allegations), while the 160 figure for 2006 is the accurate total use of force
allegations in that year; thus there were 160 force related allegations in both years. This
is an example of the “total vs. subset” problem in 2002, and the “cases vs. allegations”
problem in both 2002 and 2006.
This inflation will of course influence the overall rates on an agency, officer, and
population basis, as well as the rates within the agency size group. For example, within
the “1,000 or more” full-time sworn size group for 2002, the rates of force complaint
would be revised from 357 per agency to 221; from 10.5 per 100 full-time sworn to 6.5;
from 18.0 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for service to 11.1; and from 3.30
per 10,000 population to 2.04. Within this size group for 2006, the rates of force
complaint would be revised from 397 per agency to 245; from 11.7 per 100 full-time
sworn to 7.2; from 20.3 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for service to 12.6;
and from 3.59 per 10,000 population to 2.22 (see Table 6).
*** Insert Table 6 about here ***
Agencies having 500-999 officers
The largest raw increase in complaints among agencies of this size group was
reported by the Oakland (CA) Police Department (901 complaints, or an increase of
570%). In comparing the reported figures for Oakland with available data from that
agency’s Internal Affairs Division, it is apparent that the 2006 LEMAS figures for
Oakland do not reflect the total number of complaints about police use of force. The
National Data on Police Use of Force 21
LEMAS data indicate 158 complaints about use of force in 2002, and 1,059 such
complaints in 2006. Annual reports from Oakland’s Internal Affairs Division indicate
167 for 2003 (the earliest year for which data were available), and 247 in 2006. The
larger number for 2006 likely reflects the total number of all citizen complaints received
in that year (reported in annual reports as 1,008), another example of the “total vs. subset
problem.”
The largest raw decrease in complaints in this agency size group was reported by
the Albuquerque Police Department (from 364 in 2002, to 69 in 2006, or a decrease of
81%). The department was unable to confirm the LEMAS data, and they have been
under investigation by the DOJ civil right division, with a recent findings letter dated
April, 2014. A recent annual report indicates about 130 total complaints during a 6
month period. An older report by the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC)
indicates approximately 200 complaints per year from 1999 – 2001, and 21 allegations of
excessive force in citizen complaints for 2000; 48 allegations in 2001. The 364 in 2002
is likely a total number for both internal investigations and external complaints
(allegations), while the 69 in 2006 is possibly the correct external allegations of use of
force.
Inaccurate data for agencies reporting extreme changes in this size category
inflate the total number of complaints about police use of force reported in 2002 LEMAS
data by an estimated 375 complaints, and for 2006, the inflation is an estimated 942
complaints. Within the “500 to 999” full-time sworn size group for 2002, the rates of
force complaint would be revised from 64 per agency to 51; from 9.2 per 100 full-time
National Data on Police Use of Force 22
sworn to 7.4; from 15.0 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for service to 12.0;
and from 2.04 per 10,000 population to 1.64. For 2006, the rates of force complaint
would be revised from 78 per agency to 47; from 10.9 per 100 full-time sworn to 6.6;
from 19.0 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for service to 11.4; and from 2.44
per 10,000 population to 1.46 (see Table 6).
Agencies having 250-499 officers
The Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) for the police department in Dayton,
OH indicated that they had a 4-year records retention policy and that searches of paper
records for 2002 and 2006 would not produce anything. A legacy computer system was
able to pull some electronic data for 2006, and they reported a total of 57 citizen
complaints in 2006. PSB personnel suggested that the 24 complaints about police use of
force reported in LEMAS for 2006 could be accurate. With regard to the 2002 data, PSB
personnel indicated that the LEMAS figure (91) was more consistent with the total
officer-reported uses of force. For example, in 2006, there were 72 total officer-reported
uses of force.
Inaccurate data for these agencies inflate the total number of complaints about
police use of force reported in 2002 LEMAS data by an estimated 620 complaints, and
for 2006, the inflation is an estimated 809 complaints. Within the “250 to 499” full-time
sworn size group for 2002, the rates of force complaint would be revised from 25 per
agency to 17; from 7.5 per 100 full-time sworn to 5.1; from 11.6 per 100 full-time sworn
responding to calls for service to 7.9; and from 1.56 per 10,000 population to 1.06. For
National Data on Police Use of Force 23
2006, the rates of force complaint would be revised from 28 per agency to 17; from 7.9
per 100 full-time sworn to 4.9; from 12.3 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for
service to 7.6; and from 1.65 per 10,000 population to 1.02 (see Table 6).
Agencies having 100-249 officers
Within this agency size group it was much more challenging to validate data, but
there were many examples of erratic reporting, such as for the police departments in
Wilmington, NC (18 complaints in 2002, but 223 in 2006) and Warner Robbins, GA (66
complaints in 2002, but just 5 in 2006). Inaccurate data for these agencies are
conservatively estimated to inflate the total number of complaints about police use of
force reported in 2002 LEMAS data by 273 complaints, and for 2006, the inflation is an
estimated 1,140 complaints. Within the “100 to 249” full-time sworn size group for
2002, the rates of force complaint would be revised from 7 per agency to 6; from 4.9 per
100 full-time sworn to 4.2; from 7.6 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for
service to 6.6; and from 0.87 per 10,000 population to 0.75. For 2006, the rates of force
complaint would be revised from 11 per agency to 7; from 7.3 per 100 full-time sworn to
4.7; from 11.5 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for service to 7.4; and from
1.32 per 10,000 population to 0.84 (see Table 6).
The net effect for the BJS complaints data is substantial inflation in both the 2002
and 2006 waves. For 2002, the rates of force complaint would be revised from 41 per
agency to 28; from 8.8 per 100 full-time sworn to 5.9; from 14.4 per 100 full-time sworn
National Data on Police Use of Force 24
responding to calls for service to 9.8; and from 2.17 per 10,000 population to 1.47. For
2006, the rates of force complaint would be revised from 49 per agency to 30; from 10.1
per 100 full-time sworn to 6.3; from 17.0 per 100 full-time sworn responding to calls for
service to 10.5; and from 2.48 per 10,000 population to 1.54 (see Table 6).
Random Sample for External Validation
Focusing only on those agencies having relatively extreme within-agency changes
will of course mask more subtle inaccurate variations in reported data for other agencies.
For this reason, we selected a random sample of 100 agencies for validation. Of the 100
agencies contacted, 39 were actually able to fulfill our data request. Twenty-seven
agencies reported that they purged their records due to record retention laws, or citizen
complaints were not recorded during the years investigated. Despite extensive follow-up,
31 agencies were unable to fulfill our request during the study period because of limited
resources and/or backlogs of public data requests, or agencies were simply non
responsive to correspondence attempted by electronic inquiry, mail, or telephone contact.
Finally, three of the 100 agencies explicitly refused to participate in the study.
Among agencies able to provide data, the data received only rarely matched the
data reported in LEMAS. In fact, only three of the 39 agencies reported complaints data
that matched LEMAS data for both years; another ten reported data that matched one of
the two years. Sixteen of the remaining 26 agencies reported data that were either 50%
higher or lower than the data reported in LEMAS, ranging from an under-count of 89 to
an over-count of 82. The net effect was inflation in both years (119 complaints in 2002,
National Data on Police Use of Force 25
or 19% of the total complaints reported by these agencies; and 64 complaints in 2006, or
10% of the total reported by these agencies).
Discussion
The problems encountered in this study of citizen complaints point to serious
measurement concerns. Agencies in 2002 were asked to “Enter the current dispositions
for all formal citizen complaints received during 2002 regarding use of force” and were
provided with response blanks to report the total number of complaints, as well as those
that were unfounded, exonerated, not sustained, sustained, pending, or had some other
disposition. In 2006, agencies were asked about complaints using the exact same
wording; however the response categories were limited to total, sustained, pending, or
other disposition. Clearly, the item wording is not sufficiently precise, or is not being
interpreted and used by respondents as intended, to yield valid and reliable measurement.
The types of problems we encountered are listed below, with some agencies having one
or more of the listed problems, in one or both years of reported data:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reporting total citizen complaints rather than the subset involving use
of force;
Combining citizen complaints with internal complaints;
Combining or replacing citizen complaints with officer reported uses
of force;
Reporting total force allegations within complaint cases, rather than
cases involving any force allegation;
Reporting total complaints investigated, rather than complaints
received;
Undetected data entry error (either agency or data collection agent).
In sum, the findings of this study indicate that the LEMAS data on citizen
complaints about police use of force suffer from serious, if not fatal, measurement flaws.
National Data on Police Use of Force 26
The LEMAS data on citizen complaints do not provide a valid and reliable basis for
comparative statistical reporting and research purposes, and should not be used for these
purposes. The LEMAS data also should not be relied upon for purposes of litigation
involving the conduct of law enforcement agencies.
Recent Monell litigation points to increasing reliance upon on statistical evidence
of police organizational wrongdoing (Futterman et al., 2008). Plaintiffs must show that
they suffered a deprivation of their Constitutional rights, that it was caused by some
policy or custom of the city to act or fail to act, and the action or failure to act was a
result of “deliberate indifference” to the plaintiff’s rights. Increasingly, lawyers are
turning to statistical arguments in support of a policy or custom and/or in support of
arguments about deliberate indifference. The City of Chicago recently experienced a
wave of litigation in this style using the BJS complaints data, where it was argued that
since their complaint sustain rate was lower than the baseline in the BJS data, the City
was not adequately policing itself, and this contributed to an environment in which
officers acted with impunity. The present study shows that the BJS data do not provide a
valid and reliable basis for this kind of comparative analysis.
With the passage of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act,
the U.S. Department of Justice was granted authority to pursue civil litigation against
police departments that display a “pattern or practice” of Constitutional violations,
including use of excessive force (42 USC 14141). This is an important and powerful
mechanism, and a necessary check on police behavior that helps to ensure that the police
are held accountable to the public. But there is no clear context for these investigations,
National Data on Police Use of Force 27
and it remains unclear what constitutes a pattern or practice of use of excessive force. As
previously noted, the same Act legally required the Attorney General to collect and
publish annual summaries of data on use of excessive force (42 USC 14142). Perhaps the
intent of this pair of statutes was to enable the rational investigation of police use of
force, as the data collected under 14142 could provide an empirical basis for pattern or
practice investigations carried-out under section 14141. However, in the findings letter
issued following their recent investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department, the
Civil Rights Division opines that the law does not require statistical evidence or a specific
number of incidents or acts in order to find a pattern or practice of use of excessive force.
Yet, they noted in their investigation that fatal police shootings were statistically high for
a city of that size.
In the roughly twenty years since the passage of the 1994 Crime Act, there has
been little significant progress toward the annual reporting requirement. Absent
substantial political will and resources, it may be that the Federal government will simply
not be the leader on national data collection regarding police use of force. A strict
reading of 42 USC 14142 reveals no requirement that the Federal government take the
lead role, or any particular role, in the design or execution of primary data collection on
police use of excessive force. The U.S. Attorney General could satisfy the requirement
by compiling and reporting on various government sponsored and non-government
initiated efforts.
Perhaps privately funded, citizen-led, or other grassroots efforts will lead the way
on national data collection. For example, the Cato Institute’s National Police Misconduct
National Data on Police Use of Force 28
Statistics and Reporting Project (www.policemisconduct.net) is based upon media reports
of police misconduct incidents. In their latest annual statistical report (2010), they
reported tracking 4,861 incidents involving 6,613 officers; about one quarter of the
officers were involved in excessive force reports. The NPMSRP misconduct data were
recently used as the dependent variable in an agency-level analysis reported by Eitle et al.
(2014).
Conclusion
The results of this study suggest that much work remains to be done on collecting
national data about police use of force both in general and specifically with regard to
citizen’s complaints. Lest we seem overly critical of the federal efforts, it is important to
also note that the President has empaneled a Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and
that panel has already held hearings and may soon issue findings as this is being written.
The Task Force is likely to take-up the issue of national data on police use of force in
their future meetings. For its part, BJS is already planning a meeting in April, 2015, that
will once again bring academics, police practitioners, and others together to assist in
determining what types of data should be collected and how best to proceed. It is
somewhat disheartening that it takes high profile incidents like those in Ferguson, MO,
and New York to motivate political leadership on these issues, but it is critical to
maintain the pressure and momentum if the legally mandated goal of annual national
statistics on police use of excessive force is to be satisfied.
National Data on Police Use of Force 29
BJS has discontinued the collection of citizen complaints data in LEMAS. This is
perhaps unfortunate from a research and development perspective, since the collection of
these data could be improved with additional work. In the most recent iteration (2012),
agencies are instead asked to report the numbers of recorded “use of force incidents” as
well as “separate reports from individual officers or deputies.” These data will also need
to undergo rigorous assessments of validity and reliability before they are used for
comparative purposes.
National Data on Police Use of Force 30
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National Data on Police Use of Force 35
Table 1. Citizen complaints about police use of force, 2002 and 2006, by number of full-time sworn (agencies reporting in both waves only)
2002
Full time
sworn
Number of
agencies
Number of
FTS
FTS
responding to
CFS
Population
2003
Total
complaints
Complaints
per agency
Per 100
FTS
Per 100
FTS CFS
Per
10,000
pop
Total
417
197,671
119,790
79,677,197
17,300
41
8.8
14.4
2.17
1,000 or more
500 – 999
250 – 499
100 – 249
32
30
76
279
109,255
20,816
25,783
41,817
63,632
12,761
16,663
26,734
34,622,295
9,372,281
12,353,960
23,328,661
11,424
1,912
1,930
2,034
357
64
25
7
10.5
9.2
7.5
4.9
18.0
15.0
11.6
7.6
3.30
2.04
1.56
0.87
Number of
FTS
FTS
responding to
CFS
Per 100
FTS
Per 100
FTS CFS
200,457
119,525
2006
Full time
sworn
Total
Number of
agencies
417
Population
2007
Total
complaints
81,936,925
1,000 or more
32
108,580
62,457
35,393,317
500 – 999
30
21,505
12,348
9,644,348
250 – 499
76
26,853
17,198
12,839,674
100 – 249
279
43,519
27,522
24,059,586
Note: Full-time sworn categories for 2006 are based upon 2003 LEMAS designation.
Complaints
per agency
Per
10,000
pop
20,330
49
10.1
17.0
2.48
12,698
2,351
2,116
3,165
397
78
28
11
11.7
10.9
7.9
7.3
20.3
19.0
12.3
11.5
3.59
2.44
1.65
1.32
National Data on Police Use of Force 36
Table 2. Percentage change in personnel, population served, and numbers and rates of use of force complaints, 2002-2006
Full time sworn
Number
of FTS
FTS
responding
to CFS
Population
Total
complaints
Complaints
per agency
Per 100
FTS
Per 100
FTS CFS
Per 10,000
pop
Total
1.4%
-0.2%
2.8%
17.5%
17.5%
15.9%
17.8%
14.3%
1,000 or more
500 - 999
250 - 499
100 - 249
-0.6
3.3
4.2
4.1
-1.8
-3.2
3.2
2.9
2.2
2.9
3.9
3.1
11.2
23.0
9.6
55.6
11.2
23.0
9.6
55.6
11.8
19.0
5.3
49.5
13.2
27.1
6.2
51.1
8.7
19.5
5.5
50.9
National Data on Police Use of Force 37
Table 3. Sustained complaints, 2002 and 2006 - agencies reporting 2006 data only
2002
Full time sworn
Total
1,000 or more
500 - 999
250 - 499
100 - 249
2006
Full time sworn
Total
Total
sustained
complaints
Complaints
per agency
Per 100
FTS
Per 100
FTS CFS
Per 10,000
pop
1,240
3
0.6
1.0
0.16
612
193
274
161
19
6
4
1
0.6
0.9
1.1
0.4
1.0
1.5
1.6
0.6
0.18
0.21
0.22
0.07
Total
sustained
complaints
1,863
Complaints
per agency
Per 100
FTS
4
Per 100
FTS CFS
0.9
Per 10,000
pop
1.6
1,000 or more
845
27
0.8
1.4
500 - 999
291
10
1.4
2.4
250 - 499
290
4
1.1
1.7
100 - 249
437
2
1.0
1.6
Note: Full-time sworn categories for 2006 are based upon 2003 LEMAS designation. Two
agencies did not report sustained complaints in 2006.
0.23
0.24
0.30
0.23
0.18
National Data on Police Use of Force 38
Table 4. Complaint sustain rates, 2002 and 2006
2002
Total
complaints
Total
pending
Total
sustained
complaints
Sustain
rate
Total
17,300
1,334
1,240
7.8
1,000 or more
500 - 999
250 - 499
100 - 249
11,424
1,912
1,930
2,034
1,028
130
114
62
612
193
274
161
5.9
10.8
15.1
8.2
Total
complaints
Total
pending
Total
sustained
complaints
Sustain
rate
20,330
1,054
1,863
9.7
Full time sworn
2006
Full time sworn
Total
1,000 or more
12,698
315
845
6.8
500 - 999
2,351
450
291
15.3
250 - 499
2,116
116
290
14.5
100 - 249
3,165
173
437
14.6
Note: Full-time sworn categories for 2006 are based upon 2003
LEMAS designation. Two agencies did not report sustained or pending
complaints in 2006.
National Data on Police Use of Force 39
Table 5. Descriptive statistics for raw change in total complaints, 2002-2006, by number of full-time sworn
Full time sworn
Agencies
Mean
Median
SD
Min
10
25
Percentiles
50
75
90
Max
Total
417
7
0
183
-1012
-19
-5
0
4
28
3213
1,000 or more
500 – 999
250 – 499
100 – 249
32
30
76
279
40
15
2
4
-35
-2.5
-1
0
636
184
54
24.5
-1012
-295
-200
-61
-217
-104
-24
-7
-99
-16
-10
-3
-35
-2.5
-1
0
9
15.5
10
4
324
105
38
15
3213
901
229
205
National Data on Police Use of Force 40
Table 6. Revisions to 2002 and 2006 complaints data when extreme agencies are corrected (corrected figures in parentheses)
2002
Number of
FTS
FTS
responding to
CFS
417
197,671
119,790
79,677,197
1,000 or more
32
109,255
63,632
34,622,295
500 - 999
30
20,816
12,761
9,372,281
250 - 499
76
25,783
16,663
12,353,960
100 - 249
279
41,817
26,734
23,328,661
Number of
FTS
FTS
responding to
CFS
417
200,457
119,525
81,936,925
1,000 or more
32
108,580
62,457
35,393,317
500 - 999
30
21,505
12,348
9,644,348
250 - 499
76
26,853
17,198
12,839,674
100 - 249
279
43,519
27,522
24,059,586
Number of
agencies
Full time sworn
Total
2006
Full time sworn
Total
Number of
agencies
Population
2003
Population
2007
Note: Full-time sworn categories for 2006 are based upon 2003 LEMAS designation.
Total
complaints
17,300
(11,681)
11,424
(7,073)
1,912
(1,537)
1,930
(1,310)
2,034
(1,761)
Complaints
per agency
Per 100
FTS
8.8
(5.9)
10.5
(6.5)
9.2
(7.4)
7.5
(5.1)
4.9
(4.2)
Per 100
FTS CFS
14.4
(9.8)
18.0
(11.1)
15.0
(12.0)
11.6
(7.9)
7.6
(6.6)
Per
10,000
pop
2.17
(1.47)
3.30
(2.04)
2.04
(1.64)
1.56
(1.06)
0.87
(0.75)
Total
complaints
20,330
(12,585)
12,698
(7,844)
2,351
(1,409)
2,116
(1,307)
3,165
(2,025)
Complaints
per agency
Per 100
FTS
10.1
(6.3)
11.7
(7.2)
10.9
(6.6)
7.9
(4.9)
7.3
(4.7)
Per 100
FTS CFS
17.0
(10.5)
20.3
(12.6)
19.0
(11.4)
12.3
(7.6)
11.5
(7.4)
Per
10,000
pop
2.48
(1.54)
3.59
(2.22)
2.44
(1.46)
1.65
(1.02)
1.32
(0.84)
41
(28)
357
(221)
64
(51)
25
(17)
7
(6)
49
(30)
397
(245)
78
(47)
28
(17)
11
(7)