Police Data Collection Request (2021)

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City of Arlington

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Dear Samuel Sinyangwe,
Welcome to the Arlington Police Open Records Request Center. We have received your request no R135573-060522 on 6/5/2022 11:10:30 PM. You have asked for:

Description: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1. the total number of use of force incidents, separated by type of force and year used in 2021 (for example, information that specifies the number of taser incidents in 2021, baton incidents in 2021, etc.)

2. the total number of civilian complaints alleging any form of law enforcement misconduct that were reported and the total number sustained in 2021.

3. the total number of civilian complaints alleging law enforcement use of excessive force that were reported and the total number sustained in 2021.

4. the total number of civilian complaints alleging biased policing or racial profiling that were reported and the total number sustained in 2021.

5. the total number of civilian complaints alleging criminal conduct that were reported and the total number sustained in 2021.

6. the total number of officer involved shootings in 2021, both fatal and non-fatal.

When available, I would appreciate being sent individualized data for each item in this request in spreadsheet format. If individualized data are unavailable, please send information that includes aggregate statistics for the item instead.

Note that my requests for civilian complaints are specifically for civilian complaints alleging police misconduct, please do not include complaints filed by one officer/the department against another officer.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Samuel Sinyangwe

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
The Texas Public Information Act does not require a governmental body to create new information, to do legal research, or to answer questions. The request must ask for records or information already in existence. The governmental body will try to complete the request as soon as possible with notification if the request will require more than 10 business days to complete. The governmental body may collect a fee as prescribed by law or regulation for the requested documents. If a fee is not prescribed by law or regulation, the fee shall be the actual cost of duplicating the record(s).
You can monitor the progress of this issue at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Again, thank you for using the Arlington Police Open Records Center.
Sincerely,
Arlington Police Department

This email is in response to your open records request, which is attached for your convenience. The information you requested comes from various sources so I wanted to send you an email explaining the information.

First, attached is the 2021 Annual Use of Force Report. This is also made public on the Police Department's website. It gives the total number of force incidents (there were 934 in 2021) as well as goes into detail regarding CEW usage with those specific numbers. The report also discusses and briefly summarized our two OIS incidents for 2021. I believe this should satisfy request #6.

As for the type of force used, there's often LOTS of confusion related to the UOF data we collect. There are the number of incidents vs. the number of occurrences. A single UOF incident may involve a single type of force used, but frequently involves more. For example, a single incident could involve an officer pointing a firearm, then using empty hand control and OC spray on a subject. While that's a single UOF incident, there were three occurrences of force (i.e., Firearm - Pointed, Empty Hand Control, and OC Spray).

Attached is a table (see PDF entitled UOF Types by Occurrences) that has the occurrences of force for the past five years. In 2021, there were 3,356 UOF occurrences, but as I already said, only 934 UOF incidents. I believe this information in combination with the UOF Report should satisfy request #1.

As for requests #2-#5, the attached spreadsheet should satisfy this request. We do not separate the civilian complaints in the manner you requested, but I went through and provided a type to help answer that question. Additionally, we keep cases which fall under racial profiling separate, so I included a PDF with that information as well.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Thanks.

[http://www.arlingtontx.gov/email/COA%20logo.png]<http://www.arlingtontx.gov/>
Sarah R. Martin
Assistant City Attorney, Police Legal Advisor
City Attorney's Office, City of Arlington