Salem police used force slightly less in 2023 while making more arrests

Salem police used force 666 times during arrests in 2023, representing a 9% decrease compared to last year, according to a new annual use of force report issued by the Salem Police Department on July 18.

In 2023, police in Salem made 6,509 arrests, up slightly from 6,352 arrests in 2022. Police use of force during arrests dropped by 31 from 2022 to 2023.

The number of people arrested by Salem police remains far below 2020, when 7,372 people were arrested. 

Salem Police Chief Trevor Womack said his agency’s goal is to use force as little as possible. He said police calls that result in use of force are “exceedingly rare.” However, he told Salem Reporter he is committed to driving the numbers down even further.

“We have been working hard through training, through policy changes, through community best practices, to lower the risk of use of force,” Womack said. “Body cameras play into that as well.” 

In addition to the use of force report, Womack will update the Salem City Council Monday on the police department’s body camera program it started in early 2023. 

The new use of force report shows racial disparities in the use of force. Black Salemites, who are only 1.5% of the city’s population, represented about 8% of cases where police used force during an arrest. 

Hispanic Salemites experienced police use of force 195 times in 2023, which is slightly down from the year prior. Hispanics represent 29% of instances police used force during an arrest, the report showed, compared to 23% of Salem’s population.

Use of force on Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Salemites doubled in 2023 to 18 incidents, about 3% of all uses of force. Pacific Islanders are 1.6% of Salem’s population.

The report doesn’t have data for white non-Hispanic Salemites, making comparisons across demographics difficult.

Womack said building trust and increasing community presence in high-risk neighborhoods in the community — which was among the topics discussed during a Friday night forum on violence reduction — would help police drive down community violence and also instances of police use of force in the communities that experience it the most. 

“The data, with community violence, shows this disproportionately involved Hispanic folks. If Black and brown young men in our community are at highest risk for community violence, they are also at a higher risk for contact with the police,” Womack told Salem Reporter after the forum. “Things we can do to drive down violence, to improve socio-economic status, to lower risk for criminal behaviors or victimization in our community is also going to play out in lowering incidents of use of force or incidents of contact with police.” 

Salem police in 2023 killed two people and were involved in four shootings investigated by Oregon State Police.

Police shot Michael J. Compton, 27, after he engaged in a gun fight with officers in January 2023 in south Salem. The second death involved Justin L. Jordan, 32, who was killed by police in November 2023. Jordan was armed while on Southeast Arabian Avenue in Southeast Sorrel Court yelling “kill me,” before he aimed the gun at officers, prompting them to shoot.

The number of police shootings was comparable to prior years: Salem police killed two people in 2021 and three in 2022. Those people were Richard A. Meyers, 40; Tayler S. Osborne, 28, and Robert “Bobby” Brown, 16. 

Physical force under the Salem police policy includes any use of a gun, Taser, pepper spray, K-9 bite, strikes or other “active physical countermeasures.” Force doesn’t include passive contact, unresisted handcuffing or any force involving police vehicles.

The department reviews all use of force incidents. According to the report, a supervisor conducts a more detailed “after-action review” if three or more Taser cycles are used during the same incident, if a police dog bites a person or if a person in custody is injured by police. 

Senate Bill 111, passed in 2007, created a planning authority in every county to develop plans related to deadly physical force by police. When officers intentionally use physical force or an in-custody death involves Salem police employees, that requires three investigations — a criminal investigation by an outside police agency, a civil investigation by the city’s legal department, and an investigation by the police department’s Professional Standards and Training Section. 

The department also reports all such incidents to the state Justice Department.

The new report said there were no formal use of force complaints received by the professional standards unit in 2023, either from the community or internally.

In addition to instances of police using force during arrests, calls for services also decreased in 2023, with police fielding 110,349 calls compared to 114,018 calls in 2022, and 112,965 calls in 2021. 

The most common type of injury sustained as a result of police use of force is bruises or abrasions followed by punctures, and then lacerations. 

Bites from police dogs decreased in 2023, with five reported, compared to eight in 2022 and nine in 2021.

According to the report, use of force against people younger than 16 years old trended down slightly in 2023 after doubling in 2022 from the year prior. In 2023, there were 27 instances of people younger than 16 years old experiencing force which was down from 31 instances in 2022. 

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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