Redwood City Police Department Use of Force

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Welcome to our new Police Department Use of Force page. Here you will find information about the total number of times that use of force was used by an officer from 2015-2022; what type of force was used; and what, if any, was the resulting injury.

We want to answer your questions and hope the information on this page is helpful.

Is there something more that you would like to see on the department staffing? Send suggestions to communitypolicing@redwoodcity.org

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Definitions

While our goal is to share information in a transparent, clear way for all members of the community to understand, there are some technical terms that we would like to define for clarification.

If you would like to request further explanation of any of these terms, please email us at communitypolicing@redwoodcity.org.

Disclaimer

The community served by the RCPD includes visitors in addition to residents. The demographic data for police activity is not expected to directly reflect Redwood City's resident demographics.

Terms and Definitions (Click to Expand)

TERM	DEFINITION
Deadly Force	Any use of force that creates a substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily injury, including but not limited to the discharge of a firearm (Penal Code § 835a(e)(1))
Force	The application of physical techniques or tactics, chemical agents, or weapons to another person. It is not a use of force when a person allows him/herself to be searched, escorted, handcuffed, or restrained.
Objectively Reasonable Force	Force which is appropriate when analyzed from the perspective of a reasonable officer possessing the same information and faced with the same circumstances as the officer who has actually used force. Objectively reasonable force is not judged with hindsight, and will take into account, where appropriate, the fact that officers must make rapid decisions regarding the amount of force to use in tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving situations. The test of reasonableness considers the facts and circumstances each particular case, including but not limited to the severity of the crime at issue, whether the subject poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and whether the subject is actively resisting arrest, assaulting the officer or another person, or attempting to evade arrest by flight. The guidelines of this definition applies to all uses of force, including deadly force (Graham v. Connor (1989) 490 U.S. 386).
Reportable Use of Force	(a) Any on-duty use of force (UOF), use of a firm grip or control hold which does not result in injury, the appearance of injury or lasting complaint of pain (e.g., a firm grip or control hold used to control the suspect while, overcoming resistance, searching or handcuffing). Momentary complaints of pain like those attributed to pain compliance holds do not qualify as a ‘reportable use of force’ (b) Any off-duty use of force, if the acts are done or purported to be done in the officer’s official capacity. (c) See Section 301.14 for documentation requirements when force is used.
Less Lethal Force	Any force that is not deadly force. Less lethal force options include, but are not limited to, the use of the Conducted Energy Device (Taser), baton, chemical agents, 40mm projectiles, personal body weapons, and pain compliance techniques.

Summary at a Glance

The summary below visually shares a high-level summation of information. For an interactive experience including customizing filters, data points, and demographic information, please see the Interactive Dashboards section below.


Quick Facts: From 2015 - 2022 RCPD documented Used of Force on a member of the public 334 times. The resulting injuries were: 86 resulted in no injury (26%) 242 resulted in injury (72%) 2 resulted in serious injury (1%) 4 resulted in death (1%)		Quick Facts: Of the types of force used: 216 included a control hold or takedown (65%) 91 included use of a taser (27%) 10 included use of a baton (3%) 5 included threat of firearm (1%) 5 included use of a K-9 (1%) 3 included firing of a gun (1%) 2 included use of an officer vehicle (1%) 1 included use of a chokehold (1%)

		Quick Facts: Of those that force was used on 13% were identified by the officer as women, and 87% as men. Of those that force was used on 69% were identified by the officer as people of color, and 30% as white.

Redwood City Police Department Use of Force Interactive Dashboard and Reporting

Use of Force Dashboard (Click to Expand)

Click Here To Access the Use of Force Dashboard

A subset of the RCPD activities involve use of force that resulted in serious injury or death. The state requires agencies to report these uses of force with associated demographic data. The California Department of Justice (DOJ) compiles these uses of force in their URSUS dataset and shares it via their Open Data Portal (https://openjustice.doj.ca.gov/data). "The use of force (URSUS) incidents that result in serious bodily injury or death or involved the discharge of a firearm are reported annually from [Law Enforcement Agencies] LEAs and other entities throughout the state that employ peace officers. The URSUS data is narrowly defined and does not represent the totality of use of force incidents that occur in California. LEAs are only required to report use of force incidents that result in serious bodily injury or death of either the civilian or the officer and all incidents where there is a discharge of a firearm. As such, caution must be used when using the data for comparisons or in calculating rates." RCPD also chooses to document these data for use of force that is not serious or fatal.

Citywide race and ethnicity data are from the US Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates 2020 table B03002 (universe: total population) using Redwood City as “Place”. The dataset includes "ethnicity" as either hispanic ("Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin") or non-hispanic. The dataset includes race as: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Asian, Other, Two or More Races. “Hispanic” in this visual is all races where ethnicity is hispanic. White, Black, Asian, Other (include “Two or More Races”), Pacific Islander, and American Indian all refer to “Non-hispanic” ethnicity. Visit this page for more details: https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/assets/pdf/checked/1/Explanation_of_Draft_Standards.pdf
Citywide race and ethnicity data are from the US Census Bureau. The dataset is here. The dataset includes "ethnicity" as either hispanic ("Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin") or non-hispanic. The dataset includes race as: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Asian, Other, Two or More Races. Visit this page for more details: https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/assets/pdf/checked/1/Explanation_of_Draft_Standards.pdf
The term “POC” meaning “People of Color” is used to group the races reported in the data, these include people who were identified as Asian, Black, Hispanic, Mixed, and Pacific Islander.
Each use of force has one or more associated “activities”, which are linked through a shared “incident ID”. These activities are from the Redwood City Police Department's (RCPD) RIMS Record and Case Management System in which all activity reported to dispatch by an officer and all 911 calls routed through dispatch are documented. Upon creation the record is assigned a type code (here shown as the "subtype"), these codes were grouped into "types" by RCPD for this project. Visuals show activity count, not time spent.
Some use of force incidents have more than one associated activity, for the purposes of these visuals the earliest documented activity was used as the associated event.