Riley County police find no 'concerning patterns of racial bias' when using force

Oct. 23—Riley County police had more use-of-force incidents involving Black people than white people in 2020, despite the fact that Black people represent just 6% of the local population.

Incidents involving Black people accounted for 49% of all use-of-force incidents in 2020.

According to an internal report this week, the police department during that period used force 162 total times on Black people, 141 times on white people, 23 times on Hispanic people, twice on American Indian/Alaska Native people and once on an Asian person.

People who identify as white alone account for nearly 82% of the population in Manhattan, according to Census Bureau data. Hispanic/Latino people account for 7%; Black people account for 6%; Asian people account for 6%; American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%; Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, 0.2%; and two or more races 4.4%.

Riley County Police Department Capt. Josh Kyle told The Mercury that 2020's numbers are different than the first two years it tracked the data by race, in 2018 and 2019, particularly in using force at a higher level than a person's resistance level. From 2018 to 2020, RCPD reported 453 total instances of use of force on white people and 381 instances on Black people.

"For the first time in three years, we see substantial difference in the number of incidents between African Americans and whites in the high category. We didn't see that in 2019, we didn't see that in 2018," Kyle told The Mercury on Friday. "We don't see any substantive differences between the two. So for 2020, if it was the case that RCPD officers when it comes to higher level of force were racially biased, I'd expect to see that for all three years."

Kyle reported the data to the police board on Monday. Police officials said in the report they haven't found racial bias when officers use force. The report considered whether officers used the "appropriate" amount of force in each case based on how much resistance the person gave.

"Ultimately, no deeply concerning patterns of racial bias were identified..." the report said. "The difference in the data between Black/African American and White/Caucasians were not alarming, and deeper examination revealed patterns separate from race."

Kyle described the methodology for the report.

"You look at behavior out in the field, look at the officer's reaction, flip the race variable, and ask whether there is a substantial difference between the two," he said.

Kyle said the department's method is unproven and untested and is not nationally recognized. He said there is no national standard, to his knowledge. He also mentioned that because of COVID-19 (restrictions and lockdown), the use of force data is slightly different from previously recorded years.

The report contains graphs that compared whether officers used the proper level of force during the 2020 incidents. The graph uses three categories of force that considers whether the use of force was higher than necessary (meaning higher than a person's resistance level), at the appropriate level or lower than the resistance level.

In the higher-than-necessary category, police used force against Black people 14 times, which was 8.6% of the cases for that group. Police used higher-than-necessary force against white people 4 times, which was 2.8% of cases for that group, and against Hispanic or Latino ethnicity 2 times (8.7%). American Indians and Alaska Natives and people of Asian decent had no instances of higher-than-necessary force for that time period.

The department said the higher-force category mostly involved situations in which officers mentioned, pointed or used a Taser when faced with defensive or passive resistance.

According to the report, the department used the appropriate level of force 85.4% of the time on average. That included 140 times against Black people (86.4% of the instances for that group) and 119 times against white people (84.4% of the instances for that group).

The department was less likely to use lower-than-necessary force on Black people with eight instances (4.9% for that group). RCPD was more likely to use less force on white people with 18 instances (12.8% for that group).

The report showed a 6% increase in total use-of-force incidents, and a 4% increase in applications of force from 2019 to 2020. The report said the increase may be from a new standard that requires reporting of Taser warnings.

The RCPD submitted the initial report on March 26, but the race analysis required more refinement and review, according to the document. The full report can be viewed in the October police board meeting packet.