SPRINGFIELD – Underlining the complexities of modern policing, the Springfield Police Department presented its comprehensive annual Use of Force Report to the Springfield City Council on Monday. Officials characterized this year’s report as the most “comprehensive” and “nuanced” since the department began systematically compiling this data in 2021.
“These annual reviews are a vital part of how we learn and grow as an agency. They allow us to evaluate our actions, adapt our tactics, revise policies, and enhance training,” said Jami Resch, Interim SPD Police Chief.
Resch and her team provided an analysis of police conduct, revealing that in 2024, calls for police service increased by 2.6%, arrests rose by 18%, and 3.84% of those arrests involved the use of force.
192_192_2024_Use_of_Force_ReportNotably, the East side of Springfield, which includes all properties east of 28th Street, accounted for 29.9% of total calls for service and 21.7% of use-of-force incidents.
In contrast, the West side, which encompasses properties west of 28th Street, accounted for 65.5% of calls for service and 70.8% of use-of-force incidents. Calls from areas outside the city limits accounted for 4.5% of the total, contributing 7.5% of the use-of-force incidents.
Data speaks volumes
Last year, 2,091 adults were booked into the Springfield Municipal Jail. SPD – with a 46-officer roster – who responded to 31,931 calls for service. That represented an increase of 812 calls compared to 2023. Officers made 4,113 arrests last year, an increase of 635 from the previous year, while reporting 159 use-of-force events, five more than in 2023.
Despite the increased volume of calls, officers “were only involved in about five more use-of-force events” than the previous year, said Lily Wick, a crime analyst in the professional standards division of SPD. The analysis indicated that while officers employed “more force options during these events, it led to fewer and less severe injuries.” There were no serious injuries or deaths associated with the use of force identified in the report.
Among those who experienced the use of force, demographics showed that 60% were male, 30% female, and 1% identified as non-binary.
The racial breakdown indicated that 78% were white, 7.5% Black, 9.4% Hispanic, 1.3% Native American, 1.9% Asian, and 1.9% were of an unknown race.
The data also revealed that individuals subject to force were most commonly aged between 31 and 40 years old, followed by those aged 21-30, and then 41-50.
192_192_InfographicPolice cited the primary reasons for applying force: 202 incidents involved physically resisting, 146 involved fleeing, and 134 involved aggressive or non-compliant behavior.
Furthermore, the application of force occurred 39 times to prevent an injury, 33 times due to threats to life, 16 times due to perceived firearms, and 13 times for confirmed weapons, among other reasons, according to the report.
“The majority of calls for service involving potentially dangerous subjects or those experiencing mental-health crisis did not result in use of force,” according to the analysis.
It was reported that 65% of the force incidents involved low-level actions, such as control holds. Officers strive to use “minimally intrusive force methods” like these to separate, guide, or gain control of a person.
192_192_2024_Use_of_Force_PresentationThese control holds dominated the report. Sgt. Kyle Potter said that while most agencies do not classify control holds as “use of force,” SPD chooses to track and report these lower-level interactions.
“We have the mindset that more data is better. It’s easy later to filter out data, but collecting or recreating that same data is a much more difficult task,” Potter said.
If control holds are excluded from the data, there were 112 incidents resulting in the use of force, according to the analysis.
De-escalation techniques
Officers evaluated their force effectiveness, implemented mandatory de-escalation reporting, conducted training on control holds and crowd management, and noted a decrease in injuries from takedowns following specialized training.
Last year, all officers received 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Team training, as well as training in crowd management and specialized crisis negotiation. There were fewer than 43 force events resulting in subject injuries in 2024, a decrease from 52 incidents reported in 2023.
“These are events where force would have been used if de-escalation was not used as effectively; they’re tough to track and very subjective,” Wick explained. “An officer in one situation may consider a takedown successful if he or she is just able to get the person into a better position; the subject may still be resisting in some way, but the officer reached his or her goal by putting them in a better spot.”
Concern for CAHOOTS
On April 7, White Bird’s CAHOOTS program announced it would cease offering its full-service mobile crisis service in Eugene, citing financial constraints, according to the two entities.
Services in Springfield remain unaffected. White Bird has confirmed that CAHOOTS will continue operating in Springfield from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. However, law enforcement officials have expressed concern about the longevity of this arrangement.
“We’re absolutely worried about losing CAHOOTS to whatever extent we lose it. It’s … just happening, and we don’t really have a lot of control over it,” Potter stated. “We’re definitely concerned about it.”
CAHOOTS has been a national model for social service providers for over 50 years.
The report has undergone significant evolution since 2021, according to VanGordon. “I remember the first report, It was a pie chart on a sheet,” he recalled, noting that those involved approached the report with a “curious mindset and very open-minded and, frankly, a little constructively dissatisfied. … You’re starting to ask the second- and third-level questions.”
