TACOMA — Pierce County sheriff’s deputies use force against Black people at more than five times the rate they do against white people and against Native Americans at roughly two times that of white people, according to a criminal justice report released this week.
The report was compiled by senior staff from the County Executive’s Office, Sheriff’s Department, Prosecutor’s Office and Public Defender’s Office.
County Executive Bruce Dammeier called it “a milestone in our justice reform” and said some of the data may not be easy to read, but “We cannot and will not ignore it. We have a lot of work to do ahead of us.”
The work group looked at 3,022 uses of force from 2016 through 2020 and found no trends in the frequency force was used. On average, deputies used force 1,753 times each year in an average of 671 incidents.
By far, the most common force used were control tactics like an arm bar, followed by striking someone, using a Taser and vascular neck restraints. The report notes that new legislation prohibits neck restraints but the forces recorded were prior to the law going into effect in July.
Deputies most used force against white people but disproportionately against Black and Native American people.
White people make up 72 percent of the population patrolled by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, according to the report, but had force used on them in 65 percent of the incidents during the five-year span. By comparison, Black people comprise 7 percent of the population but account for 23 percent of the use of force encounters.
Those numbers are similar to what a News Tribune analysis found for the Tacoma Police Department.
Black residents make up 11 percent of the city’s 217,000 population, according to Census data, but 38 percent of the use of force encounters in a five-year span were with Black people. Comparatively, white people make up 65 percent of Tacoma’s population, but accounted for 48 percent of total use of force encounters.
Miriam McBride, of Tacoma Action Collective and Black & Indigenous Organizing, said the numbers didn’t surprise them but they didn’t realize how many non-deadly use of force encounters there were in Pierce County.
“People’s lives being lost isn’t the only time we should be upset at the misuse of power,” McBride said. “There’s still a lot of trauma that’s being put on these communities and being ignored. People give police leeway that (force) is part of the job, but it’s a problem that they’re being forceful.”
In the five-year span, there were 33 uses of force that killed people in Pierce County.
Deadly force was used close to three times as frequently on Black people as it was on white people, the report says. No Native Americans or Asian people experienced deadly force by Pierce County deputies during that time.
The racial disparities also occurred with “intermediate” uses of force like when deputies struck somebody or used batons, Tasers or neck restraints.
Intermediate force was used 28 times per every 10,000 Black resident, 13 times per every 10,000 Native American residents and five times per every 10,000 white residents.
Asian and Hispanic residents saw similar rates of use as white residents, according to the report.
The most common reasons for deputies to use force was because someone resisted arrest, were being non-compliant or combative, or they assaulted an officer, according to the report.
A shortcoming in the report is that there is no context for why and what type of force was used in each incident, officials said. The analysis also did not determine whether the uses of force were justifiable or lawful.
Pierce County sheriff’s Chief Kevin Roberts, who is part of the work group, said they will be digging deeper into the report’s findings to figure out possible solutions.
“It wasn’t overly surprising but we are very interested and committed to looking at the reasons why there may be disparate numbers and how we can get those in line with what the community expects,” he said. “I think it’s important to be clear that the Sheriff’s Department is fully committed to cooperating and working collaboratively with this process as we move policing into the future.”
The group plans to first focus on data showing Black juveniles experience the greatest disparity of force.
Black people under 18 experience force at seven to 13 times the rate of white people the same age, department statistics show. Most of those incidents, or 73 percent, involve teenagers ages 15 to 17.
Although no specific solutions have been brought up to tamp down on the disparity in use of force, the work group did make a few recommendations of how to gather more data that could paint a clearer picture of why force is being used.
Among their suggestions were looking at how new policing laws will impact use of force, analyze the relationship between force being used on a person and that person being arrested and/or charged and comparing Pierce County’s numbers to similar law enforcement agencies in the state.
The group also suggested reviewing body camera footage once the system is being used to glean context from use of force incidents. Dashboard cameras are currently being installed in patrol cars, but it’s unclear when the dash and body cams will start being used because the department is still negotiating with the deputy’s union.
