Use of Force Data Useless It took the Justice Department more than two decades to collect national data on excessive force by police. However, data in the 2015 report “turned out to be almost...

Use of Force Data Useless

It took the Justice Department more than two decades to collect national data on excessive force by police. However, data in the 2015 report “turned out to be almost useless.” Many departments said they did not capture such data and about one-fifth of the departments refused to report the data. Like the Uniformed Crime Report data, data about police use of force are reported voluntarily and without any penalty for nonreporting. The need for reliable data on use of force is vital to evaluating and shaping police performance. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice investigations into use of force by selected police departments found that one out of every five incidents of use of force was unjustified. The findings for unjustified use of deadly force were higher in some cities. Data on the use of deadly force against African–Americans show that “31.8% of people shot by police were African–American, a proportion more than two and a half times the 13.2% of African–Americans in the general population.” Departments may be reluctant to release use of force data for fear that the data could be used against them in law suits or U.S. Department of Justice investigations. Some have suggested that the penalties for nonreporting are necessary. One strategy would be to withhold federal grants and funding unless police reported use of force data. Should the Federal government withhold funding unless departments track and report reliable data on use of force?