Office of Criminal Justice Services opens use-of-force database to public

The public can now access Ohio’s database listing incidents of use-of-force by law enforcement in the state.

The use of force database is operated by the Office of Criminal Justice Services. OCJS officials say they opened the database to the public in order to increase transparency.

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The database includes reports on:

• Shots fired at or in the direction of a person
• The use of any other lethal weapon or object used as a lethal weapon
• The use of a less than lethal weapon or other object used as a less than lethal weapon on a person
• The use of any empty hand technique on a person

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The public can filter the data by:

• Law enforcement agency
• County
• Initial contact circumstances
• Location type
• Subject resistance type
• Whether the subject was armed/believed to be armed with a weapon
• Any subject impairment
• Officer type (law enforcement or corrections)
• Officer response/force type
• Subject and officer race/ethnicity, gender, and injury data

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According to a release, over 200 law enforcement agencies across the state have voluntarily reported over 5,500 use of force reports through the database since 2018.

“The use-of-force data helps Ohio identify the scenarios that most often lead to use of force so that we can offer specific de-escalation training related directly to these situations,” Karhlton Moore, OCJS Executive Director, said.

Moore said the database helps OCJS direct federal grants to targeted areas in order to help improve relations between community members and law enforcement.

The database can be accessed here.

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