The Center for Policing Equity is set to release a report on the Norman Police Department’s use of force from January 2016 through June 2020 this week.
Use of force data as well as additional data regarding police activity has been available on the department’s Open Data Portal since 2016.
The report notes the following:
- NPD responded to 427,540 calls for service between 2016 and June 2020. During the same time period, NPD recorded 267 use of force incidents.
- White individuals experienced 189 use of force incidents
- Black individuals experienced 44 use of force incidents
- Latinx individuals experienced 9 use of force incidents
- Native residents experienced 11 use of force incidents
- Unknown or other account for the remaining 14 use of force incidents
“This report revealed some significant successes for the Norman Police Department,” said Norman Police Chief Kevin Foster. “Understanding that disparity exists pushes us even harder to find the best ways to serve our community. The rarity of incidents involving force and the low levels of severity contained in the data demonstrates the department’s commitment to protecting life and preserving human dignity. We are excited to continue working with our partners in pursuit of answers to these complex sociological questions. We are hopeful that together we can all make our community more safe.”
NPD also has an ongoing research and assessment partnership with the Ruth Knee Institute and OU School of Social Work. The strategic partnership brings together the police department with social work scholars to provide not only external, unbiased evaluation of police-related community contact data, but also to develop a consultation mechanism to learn more about how to adjust policies and procedures to better serve the needs of the Norman community. Assessment of the department’s use of force data is ongoing.