COLUMBUS, Ohio (ADAMS) – Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS) Executive Director Karhlton Moore has announced that the public can now access Ohio’s database listing incidents of use of force by law enforcement in Ohio.
Operated by OCJS, the online database includes reports of shots fired at or in the direction of a person, the use of any other lethal weapon or object used as a lethal weapon, the use of a less than lethal weapon or other object used as a less than lethal weapon on a person, and the use of any empty hand technique on a person.
Data can be filtered by law enforcement agency, county, initial contact circumstances, location type, subject resistance type, whether the subject was armed/believed to be armed with a weapon, any subject impairment, officer type (law enforcement or corrections), officer response/force type, and also subject and officer race/ethnicity, gender, and injury data.
Over 200 Ohio law enforcement agencies covering over 25% of the population have voluntarily reported over 5,500 use of force reports through the database since 2018. OCJS is opening the database for public access to increase transparency.
“The use-of-force data helps Ohio identify the scenarios that most often lead to use of force so that we can offer specific de-escalation training related directly to these situations,” said Moore. “The data can also be used by OCJS to direct federal grants into targeted areas to help improve community-police relations.”
The use-of-force standard was one of the first two standards developed by the Ohio Collaborative Police-Community Advisory Board in 2015. A total of 572 law enforcement agencies have been certified on use of force and recruitment and hiring, covering 85% of Ohio’s population and sworn officers.
To access the new database, click here and click on the Ohio Use of Force Data link.