
Chapter 5
Use of Force and Deadly Force Practices
Finding 29
MPD does not capture or report use of force data in a way that can be easily aggregated, analyzed, and reported.
MPD should increase the quantity and quality of data collected around use of force reports, including contextual information such as deployment data, crime data, calls for service data, targeted enforcement priorities, and community perception information, which is imperative for fulling understanding the issue.
Implementation of these recommendations would be dependent on budgetary authority. Steven Brandl, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Helen Bader School of Social Welfare is provided MPD data to author a bi-annual report on officer use of force. Since 2009, this report has been published and is available on the Fire and Police Commission’s public website. Analysis on Use of Force reports includes type of force, subject of force, actions that generated the incident, broken down by police and aldermanic districts. Dr. Brandl also provides a bi-annual presentation to the Fire and Police Commission. In the 2015 annual report Dr. Brandl states, “The AIM system is not particularly well suited for the analysis of data. The process of converting the AIM system data to a format for statistical analysis is labor intensive and time consuming.” MPD would require funding and technical assistance with this recommendation as it may result in the department having to utilize a different software to capture use of force data. Funding would be required to obtain new software and conduct user training for all members.
* Email or Phone: