Background Info
As IMPD gets ready to release its findings on the alleged use of excessive force against Brandon Johnson, I thought it would be interesting to share some data on police complaints and assaults against officers.
Using the Department’s 2008 Annual Report as a starting point there were more than 180 complaints filed IMPD officers in 2008, the topics ranged from officer conduct, procedure and unnecessary force. However, only 12 complaints were sustained.
In addition, the number of assaults against officers were actually up in 2008. There were 785 assaults against officers, with more than 170 resulting in officer injury. Officers were most likely to be injured while responding to a disturbance or while attempting an arrest. And they were more like to hit, kicked or punched by suspects.
I bring these stats up as a reminder that police business is inherently dangerous work. A routine traffic stop or domestic disturbance call can turn into something a lot more dangerous.
This does not excuse police brutality and I’ll be eager to see at what point with the encounter with Brandon Johnson where did the use of reasonable force necessary to subdue a suspect and affect and arrest turned into excessive force.
My money right now is that there was probably one or two officers out of the group that went too far while the rest followed Department procedure, but we’ll know more later this morning.
