Excessive Force Complaints
The Bureau of Justice Statistics:
Large state and local law enforcement agencies with 59 percent of the nation’s sworn officers received 26,556 citizen complaints about the police use of force during 2002, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The rate was 6.6 complaints per 100 full-time sworn officers. Eighty-four percent were made against large municipal departments, BJS said.
About eight percent of the complaints were officially sustained, that is, there was sufficient evidence to justify disciplinary action against the officer or officers; 34 percent were not sustained; 25 percent were unfounded, meaning the complaint was not supported by facts or the alleged incident did not occur; 23 percent ended in exonerations because the police actions were lawful and proper and nine percent ended in other dispositions, such as complaint withdrawal, etc.
Seems bigger cities have more complaints.
