Use of force data (2017-2024) (Fairfax County Police Department)
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
25-FOIA-224 |
| Multi Request | Use of force data (2017-2024) |
| Submitted | Jan. 16, 2025 |
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Communications
From: Samuel Sinyangwe
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
Use of force (UOF) data dating from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024. This data should be in database or spreadsheet format and include the case number, incident date, incident time, subject injured indicator, subject injury force related info (e.g. Yes or No), subject age, subject gender, subject ethnicity, subject weapon type, incident area occurred, force type, officer badge number and names associated with the officers involved. If one or more of these fields is unavailable, provide all fields and/or information that is available responsive to my request.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Tom Nash, a citizen of Virginia, in coordination with Samuel Sinyangwe.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Virginia Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 27, 2025. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Fairfax County Police Department
January 30, 2025
Tom Nash
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 179972
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>
Re: Use of Force 2017 - 2024
Our Re: 25-FOIA-224
Dear Tom Nash:
This correspondence is in response to your Virginia Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA) request, which the FOIA Compliance Division received on January 27, 2025.
You specifically requested the following information:
“Use of force (UOF) data dating from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024. This data should be in database or spreadsheet format and include the case number, incident date, incident time, subject injured indicator, subject injury force related info (e.g. Yes or No), subject age, subject gender, subject ethnicity, subject weapon type, incident area occurred, force type, officer badge number and names associated with the officers involved. If one or more of these fields is unavailable, provide all fields and/or information that is available responsive to my request.”
Fairfax County Police Department does not have a system that can generate a spreadsheet based on your request above. It is not information that we maintain or have available in the format you requested.
The information you are requesting can only be provided by identifying, searching, downloading, and reviewing each individual case/incident report and then creating a spreadsheet accordingly. Please note while reviewing each case it will be determined if the material is releasable or exempt from disclosure.
Pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3704(D) no public body shall be required to create a new record if the record does not currently exist. Accordingly, this request is denied.
Additionally, "Please take note." To provide you with the records you are seeking, this process would be extremely timely and costly.
However, as a courtesy, we have provided the attached links for policy and information related to Use of Force by the Fairfax County Police Department. To open the links, highlight over the link, right-click, and then choose open hyperlink.
The FCPD use of force policy can be found publicly online at:
GO-540.pdf<https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/sites/police/files/Assets/GeneralOrders/GO-540.pdf>
The Fairfax County Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau provides Administrative Investigation reports including Use of Force Data reports publicly posted online. We have records from 2015 – 2023. 2024 records are not available as cases are still being investigated:
Annual Reports | Fairfax County Police Open Data Portal<https://www.fcpod.org/pages/annual-reports>
IAB Administrative Investigation and Use of Force Data Report | Police<https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/chief/reports/iab>
In addition, there is a police civilian review panel and an independent police auditor whose responsibility is to review complaints filed against FCPD officers.
Police Civilian Review Panel | Police Civilian Review Panel<https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/policecivilianreviewpanel/>
Department Homepage | Independent Police Auditor<https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/policeauditor/>
If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at (703) 246-4561 or FCPDFOIA@fairfaxcounty.gov<mailto:FCPDFOIA@fairfaxcounty.gov>.
Sincerely,
Jessica Cox
Jessica Cox, Manager,
FOIA Compliance Division
JC/mls