APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Appleton Police have used force less often in recent years.
The department recently released a report stating that its officers used various forceful means on 48 occasions in 2016, one more than in 2015 but 33% below their ten-year average.
Sergeant Dave Lund credits annual training for keeping officers fresh on how to best defuse situations without the use of force and also for reminding them which tools are best used in which instances.
Since the start of 2015, Lund notes there has not been a single instance of an Appleton officer using pepper spray, a baton, or deadly force.
He says the extent of force used in the last two years has been a taser, which was activated 16 times in 2016.
According to Lund, last year also saw 42 uses of passive countermeasures such as forcing the subject to the ground or against a wall, the lightest force tactic officers employ.
While Lund says it is never ideal to use force, he notes that it is inevitable due to the large amount of calls the department fields each year, 49,894 in 2016.
