APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – The Appleton Police Department has released its annual report about its use of force during calls for service.
According to their “2015 Use of Force Review and Analysis”, officers responded to 48,809 calls for service last year and utilized force 47 times. That’s a 32% decline from 2014’s numbers and is a 40% drop from the previous 10-year average.
“We try our best to be transparent and let people know, as much as we can, what we’re doing, what kinds of things are occurring in their community and how we end up handling those situations,” says Appleton Police Department Sgt. David Lund.
To reduce the number of “use of force” incidents, Appleton Police looks for and trains with alternative and safer ways to control resistive or combative individuals. The use of trained techniques and alternative approaches played a role in decreasing the number of incidents utilizing focused strikes (9) and ECD or Taser activations (14). No use of force involved pepper spray, baton strikes or deadly force.
The agency says they include the following intervention techniques and options in their use of force policy:
- Electronic Control Devices (Taser)
- OC Spray (Pepper Spray)
- Passive Countermeasures
- Active Countermeasures
- Incapacitating Techniques
- Impact Weapons
- Kinetic Energy Impact Weapons
- Canine Bites
- Firearms/Deadly Force
The Appleton Police Department says when they use any of these intervention options, the incident requires notification to an on-duty supervisor and a written report to be completed. Each completed report is reviewed by a unit/district commander, Unified Tactics Coordinator and the Assistant Chief of the department.
