DON’T FORCE IT?

FBI’s Use-of-Force Database May Shutter Over ‘Insufficient Participation’ From Cops

The FBI said on Wednesday, however, that “each day is a new snapshot in time,” and that participation rates had jumped from 54 percent in October to 57.15 percent this week.

The failure of police and federal law enforcement agencies to send data on their officers’ use of force has put an FBI program in danger of shutting down, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. “Due to insufficient participation from law enforcement agencies,” the GAO wrote, “the FBI faces risks that it may not meet the participation thresholds and therefore may never publish use of force data.” The project is required to meet a minimum rate of participation, established by the Office of Management and Budget, of 60 percent by the end of 2022. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the FBI’s National Use-of-Force Data Collection program, launched in 2019, was receiving data representing 57 percent of all officers.

“I’d be surprised if they didn’t make 60 percent,” Bill Brooks, a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police board of directors. The FBI told the Post on Wednesday that “each day is a new snapshot in time,” and that it believed the threshold “will be met.” Its current data represents a jump from October, when just 54 percent of officers were represented. In 2019, only 44 percent of local, state, federal, and tribal officers were covered by the data.