I recently received this correspondence from an old friend, Chuck Wexler, who serves as the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). Basically, it is what I have been advocating; that is, that police leaders stand up, identify the problem (excessive uses of force), get help, propose new policies and training regimens, and then report back to the community what they have accomplished. This will go a long way to re-building trust between police and community members — particularly those who have been on the receiving end of forceful actions by police.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood of Volusia County, Florida, gets it!
Here’s Chuck’s report:
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Dear PERF members,
I’m pleased to send you this 2nd issue of “PERF Trending: People, Ideas, and Events.” I want to thank everyone who emailed me with feedback about the first issue last Saturday.
A Florida success story: Let’s start this issue with a good news story from Mike Chitwood, Sheriff of Volusia County, Florida. Many of you know Mike, who began his career with the Philadelphia Police Department and later served for a decade as Chief of Police in Daytona Beach, FL.
In August 2016, Mike was elected Sheriff in Volusia County, having run on a platform of taking a fresh look at the operations of the Sheriff’s Office, in particular regarding use of force.
Mike took office in 2017 and hit the ground running, announcing that PERF would be assisting the Sheriff’s Office with a study of its use-of-force policies, procedures, training, and case files. PERF completed its study in September 2018, and because we had been keeping Mike informed as we conducted our research, by the time we finished our report, Mike had already implemented some of our recommendations. He continued that process in 2019.
Here are the results so far. As you can see, in every category, use of force has declined since Mike took office. Well done, Sheriff Chitwood!
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Officer-involved Shootings | 7 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| K-9 Apprehensions | 41 | 31 | 29 | 18 | 17 |
| Taser Utilized | 52 | 44 | 39 | 30 | 15 |
| Total Less-Lethal Force | 204 | 168 | 138 | 77 | 64 |
| Total Use of Force | 211 | 178 | 144 | 80 | 65 |
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 
This is fantastic! I was just talking with my CJ Dept. chair at my University about the need to build a body of research and best practices from agencies doing real reform with success. Thanks for sharing this, Chief.
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I was surprised to find out in my own experience teaching CJ that few students connect with these data — probably because they are predominately white and middle class — they never think that cops could ever bother them. And they wish to be police officers? Hmmm.
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Dear Thoughful Sarge — again, always “thoughtful.” Thanks for re-blogging. Have you seen a project on Go Petition that Prof Mike Scott and I put together about 8 years ago? Only 71 folks ever signed up. (https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/on-this-we-stand-policing-our-nation.html)
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I have the same experience with my fellow students. Even the professors don’t seem to fully see the need for this type of data. When I bring it up, they are interested. I just think this drilled-down causation is overlooked in all the talk about body cams, shootings, and sentencing reforms that is the all the rage.
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Reblogged this on Square Cop In A Round World and commented:
We need more police leaders who understand that reducing use of force makes officers safer, despite what some may say. It reduces the instances of physical altercations, which is good for officers’ injury reduction and better mental health. Our community relations will greatly improve, and community support is critical for policing in a democratic society.
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You got it!
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