WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — Uses of force by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) increased by 11% in 2023 compared to the year prior, according to a new report by D.C.’s Office of Police Complaints (OPC).
The annual report, which was released Wednesday , looks at the number of use-of-force cases, the types of force used and the demographics of both the officers and the community members involved, among other things.
According to the report, 2,312 uses of force were reported in 2023. Tactical takedowns were the most frequent type of force, accounting for 39% of uses of force.
DC police investigating stabbing in Northeast Officers discharged their firearms at eight people, killing one person.
In terms of demographics, 94% of use-of-force cases involved members of the Black community.
Uses of force include the following:
- Control holds
- Tactical takedown
- Firearm pointed
- OC spray
- Fist/knee strike
- ASP strike, canine bite
- Taser
- Firearm discharge
“Some aspects of this report are not surprising at all. We’ve known for a long time that there’s too much use of force in D.C.,” said Patrice Sulton, Executive Director of the DC Justice Lab. “We’ve known for a long time that the vast majority of people subject to use of force are Black.”
Sulton said some of the data should be alarming.
Judge sentences 15-year-old involved in beating death of 64-year-old DC man “The fact that 94% of the people who were subject to use of force in D.C. were Black should stand out,” she said.
She also noted that a statistic which showed that officers pointed a firearm at a person 447 times last year, should be concerning.
“[DC] considers possession of firearm as gun violence and violent crime and here we have police officers actually displaying, brandishing firearms at people,” said Sulton.
In response to the data, the Office of Police Complaints has made several recommendations to MPD, including, “Re-administering the mandated Use of Force Training to officers who receive sustained allegations of unnecessary or excessive force, and reassessing MPD’s firearms training program to improve accuracy, as officers had only a 28% accuracy rate when discharging their firearms at human subjects in 2023.”
Michael Tobin, Executive Director of the OPC, said transparency in law enforcement practices is critical for public trust.
“Our goal is to ensure the community is informed and engaged in conversations about police use of force and this report serves as a tool to encourage to facilitate those discussions,” he said.
DC News Now reached out to DC Police Chief Pamela Smith and is awaiting comment.
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