Statistics from the National Use-of-Force Data Collection for January Through September 2023
November 21, 2023
In 2023, 10,491 out of 18,514 federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies throughout the nation provided use-of-force data. The officers employed by these agencies represent 68% of federal, state, local, and tribal sworn officers in the nation.
Agencies Reporting No Response
| Month | Number of Agencies |
| January | 3,191 |
| February | 3,306 |
| March | 3,523 |
| April | 3,633 |
| May | 4,294 |
| June | 4,536 |
| July | 5,097 |
| August | 5,562 |
| September | 6,897 |
Agencies Reporting a Zero Report
| Month | Number of Agencies |
| January | 9,665 |
| February | 9,584 |
| March | 9,446 |
| April | 9,368 |
| May | 8,726 |
| June | 8,512 |
| July | 7,984 |
| August | 7,528 |
| September | 6,221 |
Agencies Reporting at Least One Incident
| Month | Number of Agencies |
| January | 134 |
| February | 114 |
| March | 119 |
| April | 110 |
| May | 103 |
| June | 101 |
| July | 94 |
| August | 94 |
| September | 73 |
Reason for Initial Contact
| Reason | Percent |
| Response to unlawful or suspicious activity | 52.4 |
| Traffic stop | 12.3 |
| Warrant service/court order | 10 |
| Medical, mental health, or welfare assistance | 6.7 |
| Routine patrol other than traffic stop | 4.3 |
| Follow up investigation | 3.9 |
| Pending/unknown | 2.4 |
| Other | 8 |
Most Frequent Types of Force Used
| Rank | Type of Force |
| #1 | Firearm |
| #2 | Hands-Fists-Feet |
| #3 | Electronic Control Weapon (Taser®) |
| #4 | Canine |
| #5 | Other |
Most Frequent Types of Resistance Encountered
| Rank | Type of Resistance |
| #1 | Failing to comply to verbal commands or other type of passive resistance |
| #2 | Attempted to escape or flee from custody |
| #3 | Displaying a weapon at an officer or another |
| #4 | Using a firearm against an officer or another |
| #5 | Resisted being handcuffed or arrested |
The data elements “Type of Force Used” and “Resistance Encountered” are collected in a way that allows contributors to select one or more fields for each incident report. We list these data elements in order by how frequently each field is selected within the entire data set, regardless of the varying combinations that may occur within submitted incidences, in order to depict the data and its meaning to the collection.
Use-of-force statistics are preliminary and can change as agencies provide updates to the FBI. The statistics found in this report and more information about the data collection are in the Crime Data Explorer.
