2018 Annual Report

Use of Force by Officer Age and Years of Experience

FIGURE 23: UOF BY OFFICER AGE & YEARS OF EXPERINCE

• Use of force varies greatly by age group. Officers ages 26-35 account for more UOF than all other groups combined but are only about 24% of officers. Within the 26-30 and 31-35 groups, officers with less than 5 years of experience are most likely to use force.
• The oldest (51 or older) NOPD officers are least likely to use UOF. They account for over 30% of officers but have the second fewest force incidents.
• The youngest officers account for just under 9% of all UOF but they comprise 4% of officers. Relative to the number of officers, the youngest officers do use a disproportionate amount of force.
• Starting around age 30, many officers with more than 5 years of experience use force at non-negligible rates.

Type of Force by Officer Gender and Race

FIGURE 24: TYPE OF FORCE BY OFFICER GENDER AND RACE

• There are approximately 3.5 times more male officers than females. But male officers account for about 9.5 times the amount of force as female officers.
• In 2018, white male officers account for 15 more UOF than all other officers combined, though they make up less than 50% of NOPD. These statistics are nearly identical to 2017’s data.

Use of Force by Female Officer Race

FIGURE 25: UOF BY TYPE FOR FEMALE OFFICERS

• Black female officers used slightly more force than white female officers. Because there are more black female officers than white female officers, their use of force is proportional.
• Female officers are responsible for approximately 10% of all use of force.

Use of Force by Male Officer Race

FIGURE 26: UOF BY TYPE FOR MALE OFFICERS

• Male officers are responsible for approximately 90% of force.
• There are 450 white male officers and 481 black male officers.
• White male officers use 1.5 times the force of black male officers.