Use of Force Analysis

Use of Force Analysis

The Richfield Police Department recognizes and respects the value of all human life and dignity and is committed to resolving conflicts through the use of communication skills, crisis intervention and de-escalation tactics, when feasible. In vesting police officers with the lawful authority to use force to protect the public welfare, a careful balancing of all human interests is required. Therefore, it is the policy of the department that police officers use the minimum force that is reasonably necessary to effectively bring an incident under control.

Our officers receive extensive training in a variety of areas to minimize the application of force, including crisis intervention training (CIT) and de-escalation strategies.  All officers receive CIT training upon initial hire and periodic CIT training thereafter.  Officers also complete a variety of annual training courses related to crisis and conflict management including persuasion, de-escalation, emergency medical holds, mental health, serving those with autism, and implicit bias. For more information regarding our minimum annual training requirements, please click here.

Use of Force Reporting

Richfield police officers are required to promptly, completely, and accurately report any physical application of force. Additionally, a number of incidents require report review by department command staff and use of force instructors. A special incident review is conducted in the following circumstances:

  • Any use of force, threatened, deadly and non-deadly (exception handcuffing a compliant person(s)
  • Vehicle pursuits
  • Use of canine for crowd control
  • Officer assaulted
  • SWAT team call-out
  • Discharge of a firearm other than during training
  • Use of a vehicle as deadly force
  • Use of a roadblock
  • Detention Area Incident
  • Bias crime

Special incident reviews are completed to ensure proper procedures were followed, identify potential training needs, and/or identify policy-related issues.  

Police Strategies LLC

In addition to the above-described review process, in 2017 the Richfield Police Department contracted with an independent vendor, Police Strategies LLC, to perform additional, in-depth analysis of our use of force incidents.  Such analysis allows our department to identify trends in our use of force incidents and serves as an early intervention system to ensure officers are using appropriate levels of force and only when necessary. The Richfield Police Department was the first department in Minnesota to utilize the powerful analysis services of Police Strategies LLC.  

Use of Force Analysis: 2017 through 2018

The Richfield Police Department seeks to enhance resident trust by making use of force data available to the public. Our department continues to enter use of force data into the Police Strategies LLC system and will provide updates when new data analyses becomes available.  Our first available analysis reviewed data from 2017 and 2018. Our department is currently entering data from 2019 and 2020 to post on this site when available.

Richfield officers responded to 81,060 total calls for service between 2017 and 2018. Our officers used physical force 136 times during that time period. Based on these numbers, officers used physical force in 0.17% of incidents.

The department maintains interactive dashboards that allow the user to peruse data related to these incidents. The dashboards use maps, charts, and graphs to present use of force data in a format that can be filtered by single or multiple data fields. Readers should note the force analysis data contained within the interactive dashboards currently reflects a brief time period, 2017 through 2018, and may not provide a complete depiction of use of force trends within the department. Police Strategies LLC recommends at least three years of consecutive data to develop more accurate force trends. The Richfield Police Department is tracking below the national average for use of force. Our department is committed to utilizing our force trend data to consistently address any training and/or policy needs.         

To view the interactive dashboards, click here.