What is below comes from a pamphlet provided for the ASLET Use of Force Training Seminar: Future of Non-Lethal Force Training-Reality Based & Integrating Techniques for Non-Lethal Force Training.
(No, I am NOT making that title up. That is what it says!)
The training was presented in 1997 in LA, by Sgt Greg Dossey, Sgt John Sommers, and Ofc Steve Uhrig of the LAPD. It includes a description of the study and methodology used in investigating Use of Force incidents by LAPD.
In 1991, Sgt Greg Dossey, an Exercise Physiologist with the LAPD completed a comparative study of use of force incidents reported by LAPD for the year 1988. The study was replicated in 1992 by LAPD's Training Review commitee.
St Dossey looked at all 5, 617 use of force incident narratives written by officers in 1988, and devised a method for codifying the information contained and analyzing them for what is called their dominant patterns.
"Of the 5,617 reports examined, only 2,031 incidents contained a sufficient level of aggressive resistance by the suspect toward the officer to qualify as an altercation."
"Five patterns of combative interactions between officers and suspects accounted for 95 percent of these altercations. Within each of these five patterns, a description of the most frequent first, second, and final combative action was generated by the computer"
The significant findings of the study were:
in 1988 there were 316,525 arrests made by LAPD.
5,617 (1.7%) of these arrests required the completion of a use of force report.
2,031 (0.6%) altercations developed from these arrests.
The study also goes into excessive force complaints, lawsuits, and settlement amounts paid out.
In 1988 there was an average of 867 arrests and 5.6 altercations per day. 856 oficers reported injuries from such altercations, and 2,095 days off occurred due to injuries sustained in altercations.
"Four combative actions by suspects accounted for almost two thirds (65.8%) of these I.O.D. injuries; the officer was kicked 23.4 percent, punched 16 percent, thrown/tripped 15 percent, or was bitten 11.4 percent. In 1988 the average officer in uniform and assigned to the field was in less than 3 altercations."
(The thrown/tripped statistic includes injuries sustained from wrestling on the ground. The study goes into the percentages of injuries based on targeting of the attacks by suspects as well. For example: kicking resulted in injuries to the legs 36%, the head 27%, the rib cage 22.5% and the groin 14%. The most common injury was a bruise to one of the above, though several fractures occurred. The most common injury suffered in groundfighting was a strained lower back.)
67% of the altercations developed from these field activities: disturbances (33.8%), traffic stops (18.5%), observed narcotics activity (14.8%). Over 90 % of the subjects were male and 9.5% were female.
(It's L.A, so I guess its anyone's guess on that last .5%!)
To Be Continued...
