Presentation & Use of Force Data

Use of Force Data

Brookhaven Police Officers are required to make a written report every time they use or threaten to use force against any person, and when they display or cause a show of force (i.e.: pointing a TASER) for the purpose of gaining compliance by issuing commands.

Every presentation or use of force incident is reviewed six times by BPD and, triennially, a seventh time by external auditors.  The first four reviews aim to determine whether the individual use of force was objectively reasonable, lawful, and policy compliant.  A fifth review occurs to ensure that our training practices reflect real-world needs.  The sixth and seventh reviews are to determine whether there is evidence that bias contributed to unreasonable, unlawful, or non-compliant uses of force. 

Each use of force report is designed to be comprehensive and to record information about: (1) the officer, including whether s/he was in uniform, plain clothes, a marked or unmarked patrol car, etc.; (2) the offender, including the presence of weapons and type(s) of resistance; (3) the exact location where the force occurred; and (4) what type(s) of force were used, how often, and whether that level of force was effective.

The graphs below detail presentations and uses of force by type of force applied and by offender residency, ethnicity, race, age, and sex.

In 2023, Brookhaven Police had a total of over 34,000 contacts. Of those, 313 (less than 1%) led to a Use of Force incident. 142 of those only involved the presentation of force.

*Residency refers to whether a person resides within the City limits of Brookhaven irrespective of immigration or United States citizenship status.

*Notably, 72% of those persons against whom force was presented or used were not residents of Brookhaven. This makes the use of force demographic data incomparable with Brookhaven's demographic and census data.

*The Federal Bureau of Investigation, like the U.S Census Bureau and all Federal agencies, must adhere to the 1997 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) standards on race and ethnicity. The Brookhaven Police Department follows the FBI/OMB standard which provides five minimum categories for RACE: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian. See: https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html

ETHNICITY is collected separately from Race and is defined by OMB as either "Hispanic or Latino" or "Not Hispanic or Latino." OMB defines "Hispanic or Latino" as a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. People who identify as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race. See: https://www2.census.gov/about/training-workshops/2020/2020-02-19-pop-presentation.pdf