The use of force involving Hamilton police decreased in 2021

According to a new reportfrom the service, Hamilton police officers used less force last year.

According to a report submitted to the Hamilton Police Services Commission last week, there were 361 armed cases in 2021, a 17% decrease from 2020 when services saw it. .. 431 Incidents — Maximum Number Reported in 10 Years.

Board Chairman Pat Mandy called this decline a "good news article" at a meeting on Thursday.

In an armed use case, a policeman pulls a pistol, points, fires, uses a baton or a directed energy weapon (CEW), or somehow physically forces a person. Includes adding or adding.

Read more: Hamilton police revealed in their annual report the use of armed cases for the first time in 10 years

The most common type of force use is CEW display (80) or CEW release (80). 65 cases), followed by firearms (132 cases).

Two types of units reported more than doubled year-on-year, including the pulling out of pistols. This increased from 42 to 91.

"The empty hand is soft" case-this has explanations such as "wristlock", "acupoint", "hand cuff" -jumped from 14 to 37.

"Executives must submit an EmptyHandsSoft report only for physical use. Force or force another person to cause an injury that requires medical attention. If you use this option in combination with another option that requires a specific report, read the report on the use of force.

Of the 37 cases, 10 were accompanied by minor injuries reported to have been treated by a doctor.

Overall, 71 injured were reported to have involved officers, civilians, or both, of whom 44 were due to the removal of the CEW probe from those shot dead. did.

According to the report, 19 police officers shot firearms, but all 19 euthanized the deer.

Deputy Secretary Paul Hamilton said that 72% of last year's use of force were police officers and their responding to weapon calls. Firearms were the most prominent weapon in the weapon call, which stated that 110 people were involved.

"Today's police officers are facing increased use of weapons by subjects," he said.

"We are seeing an increase in guns on the street, and in 2021, police officers recovered 224 criminal guns. Now we seize guns from the street every 42 hours.

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Continued Read: According to police statistics in Toronto, unbalanced use of force against blacks

Last year, Solicitor General reported the use of force by people. Mandated to show racial background. The data should be based solely on the perceptions of police officers, but those who have been subject to police coercion.

There were a total of 342 cases involving people and 314 individuals involved in those cases. However, eight different reports identified four police officers as different perceived racial backgrounds.

Overall, the data indicate that two-thirds of the subjects are white, about 12% are black, and about 6.5% are indigenous or Middle Eastern backgrounds, respectively. Indicates that it has been recognized.

For the first time, the force use report contains data about the location of the city where the incident occurred and where the subject lives. Most of the

256 unique incidents occurred in the low city L8L Forward Sorting Area (FSA).

Not all people forced by Hamilton police in 2021 were actually from Hamilton. Only 64% had a mappable FSA and 16% had no fixed address.

The report reports that 187 armed cases were former police officers. Within 5 years of service, 56 were tactical officers and 33 were members of 6 to 10 years.

General patrol officers and emergency response unit officers make up the majority of police involved in the occurrence of the use of force.

Read more: Hamilton police are using new virtual reality training to improve their response to mental health crises.

The deputy chief of service acknowledged that although the use of force decreased last year, police still need to do more to prevent the use of force altogether.

"We will work with community partners to ensure that we intervene with minimal effort and find the best way to ensure public safety," Hamilton said. increase.

This is with Wilfred Ryerson University and the University of Toronto Metropolitan, with the aim of improving police response. Includes new virtual reality training in partnership with mental health crises.

So far, Hamilton has 421 officers undergoing crisis intervention training and no specific schedule has been established to achieve that goal, but the goal is for all officers. And to train frontline staff.

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