Auburn Police officers used force on 135 occasions in 2016, one time fewer than in 2015, with 45 out of 116 suspects reporting injuries that were photographed and found to be minor scrapes, bruises, small cuts, K-9 bites, and minor punctures or redness from Taser applications.
Also in 2016, Auburn Police officers responded to 94,348 Computer Aided Dispatch incidents, up from 92,872 in 2015, a 1.6 percent increase, Auburn Police Cmdr. Mark Callier told City leaders Monday night at City Hall as he delivered his annual report on the use of force by APD officers.
“To put that in perspective, of the valley agencies, we are only behind Kent in the number of incidents that we respond to,” Callier said.
Documenting and summing every use of force Auburn Police Officers employed in 2016, Callier’s report compares them to numbers from 2010 through 2016. It also compares use of force incidents to allegations, types of injuries sustained by a suspect and an officer, and the use of force officers used in varying scenarios. The APD uses these numbers to provide context and spot trends it can address in future training.
According to the report, APD officers completed 17,823 case reports, a slight decrease from 17,875 in 2015. In 2016, officers made 4,716 arrests, down from 4,985 in 2015, a 5.4 percent decrease booked 2,551 of those arrestees into the SCORE Jail compared to 2,884 in 2015, and issued 8,298 infractions/citations, up slightly from 2015.
According to the report, officers were compelled to use force once in every 699 CAD incidents, once in every 132 case reports, once in every 35 physical arrests and once in every 29 physical bookings.
In 2016, the APD received three allegations of inappropriate and/or excessive applications of force, all of which, Callier said, were investigated and determined to be unfounded.
According to the report, the APD awarded 97 commendations in 2016 involving 172 employees, and multiple officers may be on one commendation report. Ten of those were letters of commendation, meaning the officer went above and beyond what was expected in the incident. The APD awarded five medals of distinction, five life-saving medals, five medals of merit and one medal of valor, the last for a high-risk incident of an officer-involved shooting.
“The majority of our commendations come from citizens who took the time to recognize one or more officers due to their exemplary and professional work,” Callier said, adding that the commendations range from officers speaking at schools, helping someone change a tire or going above and beyond to investigate someone’s case.
Callier said the total number of commendations increased 60 percent from 2011 to 2016.
In 2016, there were eight internal investigations involving nine employees, two more investigations than in 2016, 13 less than 2010, and five investigations involving officer misconduct. The total allegations generated by internal and external sources was 12. All nine from within the department resulted in a finding of misconduct, while none of the three allegations from outside the department resulted in such a finding.
Also in 2016, there were 21 collisions involving APD employees, 13 of which were determined to be preventable on the part of the officer. The average years of service of the officers involved in collisions was seven, and the average age was 35. Fourteen of the collisions involved officers with four years or fewer of service with the APD. According to the report, the preventable collisions were attributed to officers with an average of seven years of service.
