Ferguson Civilian Review Board (FCRB)

Use of Force

One of the responsibilities of the Ferguson Civilian Review Board, per the ordinance, is to “…review… a sampling of other FPD force review board investigations involving the use of force where a complaint was not made, as determined appropriate by the board.” This information is currently supplied to the FCRB by the FPD in the absence of an established Force Review Board. 

  1. Incidents
  2. Analysis

From March 2017 to December 2020 there were 141 uses of force incidents logged and investigated by the FPD. The types of force used were:

  • Physical (hands, feet, etc.) - 70 incidents (50.0%)
  • Firearm pointing/drawn - 36 incidents (25.7%)
  • Taser - 17 incidents (12.1%)
  • Vehicle pursuit - 13 incidents (9.3%)
  • Taser pointing/drawn (not deployed) - 8 incidents (5.7%)
  • K-9 Bite - 3 incidents (2.1%)
  • Pepper Spray/mace - 2 incidents (1.4%)
  • Other weapon - 1 incident (0.7%)
  • Protest event - 1 incident (0.7%)

*the total adds up to more than 141 since more than one type of force were used during some incidents. In the case of the protest event, multiple uses of force took place during that one incident.