CPD releases new data related to officers’ use of force

The Chicago Police Department unveiled a new publicly accessible data portal Monday, one that will allow users to track and analyze stats as they relate to the use of force by officers.

The data go back to the start of 2015 and are broken down by several criteria, including race, gender and in which of the CPD’s 22 districts the use of force occurred.

“We know how important creating a culture of transparency is when it comes to restoring faith and trust with the communities we protect and serve on a daily basis,” CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson said in a statement. “We also are encouraged to see that the dashboard reflects our ongoing commitment to de-escalating volatile situations, and mitigating force whenever possible.”

Collection and publication of the use-of-force data is required under a federal consent decree governing CPD reforms.

The numbers reveal the CPD has made 437,340 arrests since the start of 2015. Of those, 25,915 arrests required an officer fill out a TRR — a Tactical Response Report, which is needed whenever force is used during the process of an arrest.

The overwhelming majority of TRRs — 19,478 — were related to the arrest of an African American person, according to the data.

Districts with the most TRRs are, by and large, the same districts most affected by gun violence in Chicago.

The Harrison District on the West Side has recorded more murders — 344 — and nonfatal shootings — 1,244 — than any district since the start of 2015, according to the CPD. It has also recorded the most TRRs in that span — a total of 3,371 as of Monday.

The debut of the use-of-force database comes about two months after the CPD published a somewhat-controversial list of people charged with gun-related crimes.

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