The Metro Nashville Police Department isn’t tracking a common type of physical force used to arrest people, according to a new report from the civilian-run agency that oversees MNPD.
The staff arm of the Community Oversight Board found that many large cities do track what’s known as “soft empty-hand control,” but not MNPD. The oversight group wants Nashville to report these incidents, too.
Officers already have to fill out a form whenever they punch, kick or use a weapon. They even have to document when they display a Taser without actually using it. That’s so the department can review officers’ actions, to make sure they’re following the use-of-force policy. It also allows the department to keep track of how often police are using force.
But police don’t need to report when they use “soft empty-hand control.” The definition for this type of force is a vague, but it includes grabbing, takedowns and causing someone pain by touching their pressure points.
Courtesy Metro Nashville Community Oversight In training, Nashville police learn about a use-of-force continuum, which ranges from the mere presence of an officer to deadly force.
These actions are considered to be less extreme than others on the department’s use-of-force continuum, such as chemical spray, punching and deadly force. MNPD keeps no record of their use, unless someone is injured or officers also use a higher level of force during the incident.
The oversight agency worries the lack of documentation of soft empty-hand controls provides a limited view of police use-of-force, even in a department that meticulously tracks other types of force.
After reviewing the policies of four other police departments, an oversight researcher found that incidents in which soft empty-hand control is the most severe form of force used accounted for between one-sixth and one-third of all use-of-force incidents. Since MNPD isn’t recording these incidents, it’s likely omitting a large swath of forceful police encounters from its official tracking.
Updating use-of-force policies
The department has taken steps in recent months to respond to community concerns about police use-of-force.
In July, the department unveiled an updated use-of-force policy, which incorporated multiple recommendations from the Community Oversight Board and the mayor’s Policing Policy Commission. Those changes included several new tracking requirements and a more detailed annual use-of-force data analysis.
In August, MNPD also released a public data dashboard, which shares some department statistics on multiple topics, including use-of-force, employee demographics and traffic stops. At the time, Chief John Drake said he hoped the data portal would enhance transparency and public knowledge about crime and policing.
However, these changes come in a historic year for deadly force in Nashville. The city’s first trial of an officer charged with murder for an on-duty shooting was canceled at the last minute this summer, after prosecutors offered him a plea deal for a less serious charge.
Local officers have also shot eight people this year — six fatally — and two others have killed themselves during encounters with police. Before 2021, MNPD officers had not shot more than five people in a year since they began tracking such incidents in 2005.
MNPD’s data dashboard shows that, overall, documented use-of-force incidents have declined in recent years, from 316 in 2017 to 200 in 2020. Still, as the oversight agency’s new report points out, that data is potentially missing many incidents in which officers only used soft empty-hand control techniques.
The new recommendations from the Community Oversight Board would require officers to document every time they use such tactics, even if no one is injured. The board will hold a meeting next Wednesday to get community feedback on their report, before they share it with the department.
This story was produced as part of APM Reports’ public media accountability initiative, which supports investigative reporting at local media outlets around the country. Support also came from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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