Cops can't know if they are using excessive force if they aren't tracking it
When police draw their weapons in Fairview Heights, you can learn the details from their web site. When deputies draw their weapons in St. Clair or Madison counties, the details will be enshrined in a report within their fortified buildings.
Policing is a dangerous job, where too often officers have less than a second to choose between their lives and that of an intoxicated, disturbed, violent or innocent person. Anyone taking on that responsibility deserves respect, but they should also expect that responsibility to come with oversight.
The report on use of force by local police offers some insight as well as highlights some concerns.
Granite City Police used force 531 times and O'Fallon Police 304 times between 2014 and 2017. Belleville officers used force 155 times. Considering those communities' populations, that is a big disparity. Belleville has about twice the population as the other two cities but uses force between half and one-third as often?
Those numbers mean something. One department may have better training or better screening of officer job candidates. Or one may not be tracking the data very well.
But to the good they have the data. Neither sheriffs in St. Clair or Madison counties can tell the public their numbers, even though it appears Madison County runs a hefty review on its deputies' use of force.
Fairview Heights puts force data on the webs site for all to see. They invested in a video shoot-don't shoot system that others are welcome to use. At 131 uses of force considering the number of people drawn to the city for shopping and entertainment, their numbers seem reasonable and may be a result of those transparent, proactive moves. They are at least worth other departments considering.
The California idea to limit police use of force sounds goofy. "Sorry, Officer Becky. You'll have to take a bullet because you've used up your 'force credits' for the month."
But tracking, training and transparency are all worth the effort by local police departments. The life saved by those things could be anyone's.
This story was originally published June 25, 2018 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Cops can't know if they are using excessive force if they aren't tracking it."