SPOKANE, Wash. – With the recent news of an officer shooting and killing a suspect, the question was brought up Wednesday of how often Spokane Police have been involved in “use of force incidents.”
We also wanted to look at if changes to the critical incident training the officers go through have made a difference.
A common theme we hear from people is that SPD officers are quick to use force – especially deadly force.
So what do the numbers show?
In 2014 there were six shootings involving police in Spokane County. Of those six, four involved Spokane Police officers.
In 2015, there were seven shootings involving police and of those seven, five involved Spokane Police officers.
In 2016, there were three shootings involving police and all involved Spokane Police officers.
So far in 2017, we have had one shooting involving police. It happened on Sunday, when a Spokane Police officer killed a suspect that they said was wielding a knife.
Each shooting involving police is different, but thanks to body cameras video, we have started to get a better idea of what happened in some cases.
In May 2016, body camera video showed officers responding to the West Wynn Motel on Sunset Blvd. Surveillance video showed the suspect running down the hallway with a gun – followed by the sound of shots being fired.
This is just one example where it is clear – officers have no choice but to use deadly force.
“That threat because it is so imminent, we have a moral responsibility to use whatever force is necessary to stop that threat immediately,” Officer Shane Phillips of the SPD said, “and sadly often times that is using deadly force.”
One of the 12 shootings involving police from 2014 to 2016 is still under investigation. The rest were found to be justified by the prosecutor’s office.
We also checked into the numbers of times officers used non-deadly force.
In 2014, officers used non-deadly force in 114 incidents. SPD said that means use of force was used in .01 percent of arrests.
In 2015, officers used non-deadly force in 117 incidents.
For 2016, only data from the first eight months of the year were available at this time, but the use of non-deadly force happened in 77 incidents.
SPD said they make thousands of arrests each year. In 2015, they said they made 11,899 arrests and used force in less than one percent of those.
Something else to consider? SPD responded to 556 calls involving someone who was suicidal in the first six months of 2016. Out of all of those calls, officers only used force in five of them.
SPD said that low number is a result of specialized critical incident training every officer goes through. Phillips said the state requires new officers get eight hours of training, but all SPD officers actually get 40 hours of training.
SPD said that critical incident training has given officers the verbal skills they need to de-escalate situations so force does not have to be used. By looking at the numbers, SPD said you can tell it is working.