Report: 94% of MPD's use of force incidents were against Black people

WASHINGTON — Out of all use of force incidents by police in 2023, a DC government study found that 94% of all the people involved in these incidents were Black, according to a report released on Tuesday. 

This statistic from the DC Office of Police Complaints was higher than a 2022 report of use of force incidents, which showed 90% of incidents involved use of force against Black people.

Use of force can be everything from MPD officers holding down or handcuffing suspects, to police use of batons, dogs, tasers or guns. 

"Tactical takedowns were the most frequent type of force reported in 2023," the report from DC Office of Police Complaints says. "Accounting for 39% of uses of force." 

Out of the 1,142 use of force incidents in 2023, most of these incidents did not involve the use of guns. Police fired their guns at eight different people in 2023 and a total use of four dogs; killing one and all four dogs in separate incidents. 

"A total of 1,017 MPD officers reported using force in 2023," the report says. "Which is roughly 25% of all MPD officers." 

The total number of use of force incidents increased by 11% from 2022 to 2023.

Another statistic found that only a quarter of the incidents where police used force involved a subject assaulting a DC police officer.

These numbers are vastly disproportionate from the population of Black people or African Americans who live in Washington, D.C. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Black people make up 44.4% of the population of D.C.

According to the DC Office of Police Complaints' report, 45% of the officers who reported using force were Black. 52% of the department is Black.