Okay.

Well, good morning, everybody.

We're gonna go ahead and call the city council meeting to order.

We have a full schedule this afternoon, so we're gonna get busy pursuing two VTCA Government Code chapter.

Y'all get that rangers.

Arlington Police Department use of force report, Chief Al Jones.

Good afternoon, Mayor Council Al Jones, Chief of Police.

I'm here today to present the department's annual use of force report for 2024.

To guide our discussion today, we'll talk about our participation in the FBI National Use of Force Collection Project.

Talk about the Arlington Police Department's use of force policy, our documentation and multi-tiered review process for all application of force.

And I'll provide some highlights and key analysis of the report.

So in 2015, the FBI has been collecting national level statistics on use of force.

Participation has been voluntary, but Arlington Police Department has supported the initiative through our regular reporting process.

Reportable incidents to the FBI must result in death or serious injury or serious body injury of a person, or the discharge of a firearm by law enforcement at or in direction of a person.

And in 2024, Arlington reported six incidents to the FBI, which met these criteria.

As you can see on this slide, there's a robust uh criteria for reporting uh useful force incidents which are codified in our policy and is consistent with industry standards and best practices.

Our use of force policy governs the application of force in response to uh resistant level exhibited, uh de-escalation, after care, and the duty to intervene.

Uh preserving the sanctity of life and human rights is at the forefront of the standard is reflected in our policy.

Our policy also outlines required reporting, multi-level supervisory review requirements.

Over the years we uh enhanced our operational and uh operations.

Uh in 2022, uh the department began tracking resident residency information on subjects who our force was used against them.

Uh to better, you know, to give us better data, uh, whether they're uh residents of Arlington, visitors, or unhoused individuals.

Uh in 2023, we began the deployment of the 40 millimeter left le less lethal uh launcher system, which provided to uh which was provided to our patrol operations as another less lethal option.

Uh prior to that year, uh SWAT was the only APD unit uh with the capability for the 40 millimeter launcher cap.

Uh in 2024, we provided education on the proper utilized utilization of ballistic shields, instructing our officers on ways to carry it and deploying the shields, providing better protection to our officers and members of the community.

Our uh use of force continual provides the framework and visual representation to employees when considering reasonable force options available to them.

The total totality of circumstance model allows for reference points when comparing the subject's level of resistance to the available options to the officers.

If you take note to the of the red uh highlighted box, the level of force which is detailed, uh the use of force report is where in uh supports of use of force report is required.

And considering the severity of the offense, the immediacy of the threat, and the level of resistance or evading action of the subject.

Each uh use of force in instance has a document review process and reviewed all the way up to the level of deputy chief to ensure that there is no deviation in policy during the use of force incident and that the officers are in compliance with training, best practices, and that is required by law.

Uh, the information that is recreating uh collected uh during the report is the reason for the contact, the subject and resistance level, witnesses, all uh employees involved, type of force should, injuries resulting in use of force application, and the subject's disposition.

Uh our uh force in tact assessment unit assigned to our training center also reviews each use of force report for trend analysis, training adjustments, and the process of improvement.

So in uh 2024, officers uh we responded to roughly over 241 uh 240,000 calls for service, which is a 9.7 increase from the previous year.

Uh, there was uh 1,235 use of force incidents involving 1,782 subjects, and six of those subjects were animals.

Uh we saw a 13.1% increase in use of force incidents when you compare 23 to 24.

The number of insulants uh incidents translate to 5.1 use of force incidents for every thousand calls for service, which is consistent uh with the previous years.

This uh indicates that in 2024 we responded to over 21,000 additional calls for service, yet we did not see a significant uh increase in ratio of uh use of force incidents.

Uh overall, um overall we saw and it was about a 99.5 percent of all the calls where there was no force being used by our officers.

Uh in 2024, we experienced six officer-involved shootings, uh, five of those resulting in fatalities.

As we evaluate our application of force, it's important to analyze uh the call volume types where force was used.

In 2024, 63 percent of calls related to use of force report was initiated by our citizens.

17 percent of calls related to use of force report were initiated by officers, and 6.5 use of uh use of force reports were related to traffic stops.

This illustrates that most calls involving use of force were initiated by someone calling the police for some help.

Uh looking at the number of use of force incidents in 2024, we see that the vast majority of calls were dispatched to officers for a police response.

This was highlighted in the previous slide.

Uh again, please note that 63% of the calls, our citizens were calling us for help.

As you'll see uh on the on-view call shows an increase which self-initiated calls based on officers' observation and proactive policing.

Our office our uh warrant service calls are largely in part generated by our fugitive unit with actively uh involved engaging violent offenders throughout DFW metroplex.

Uh, as we take a closer look at the top 10 uh calls for dispatch in 2004, where force was applied, you can see aggravated assaults and domestic assaults comprised of 44 percent of the top 10 calls for service.

The chart on the left significantly shows that officers are responding to calls which are violent in nature.

In contrast, as we evaluate results of crime against society, which we measure officers self-initiated active activity.

When you look at those cases, crimes against society, you'll see 850% of those calls involve either drugs or narcotic offenses, while 13% also involved weapon uh law violations.

Both these categories are serious in nature.

While we previously looked at a detailed call for service, this slide depicts a higher level of analysis in 2024.

The majority of calls uh were classified as felony offenses, which is 59%.

This is in line with my previous conversation on the top 10 dispatch calls for service.

Misdemeanor offenses comprised of 35% calls for service, costs solely related to behavioral health comprised of 5%, while uh force of application uh while in jail comprised of less than 1%.

Uh we evaluated compliance level by race compared it to the force application by race.

The most frequent level of resistance experience by officers are active resistant at 42 percent.

This resistant level result is lawful application by our force by an officer.