Premieres Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 10 p.m. on KPBS on KPBS TV / PBS App + Encore Thursday, May 2 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2
Every day, police rely on common tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them, such as physical holds, Tasers and body blows. But when misused, these tactics involving what police call “less-lethal force” can still end in death. The federal government has struggled for years to count these types of deaths, and the little information it collects is often kept from the public and incomplete. But starting today, a multiplatform investigation from a team led by The Associated Press offers the most extensive accounting ever compiled of deaths following these kinds of encounters.
Carried out in collaboration with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism programs at the University of Maryland and Arizona State University and FRONTLINE (PBS), AP’s three-year investigation documented 1,036 such deaths over the decade from 2012-2021. An unprecedented interactive database of these cases, and visual story, are now available to the public at apnews.com and pbs.org/frontline.
The reporting draws on tens of thousands of documents, including autopsies, police incident reports and never-before-published footage from body-worn cameras and bystander cell phones. In addition to the interactive and accompanying written stories, what the team uncovered will be featured in FRONTLINE "Documenting Police Use of Force." It is directed by Serginho Roosblad, a filmmaker who is part of the AP’s Global Investigations team, and produced by Mike Shum ("Police on Trial," "American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil").
Among the project’s findings:
- Those who died were of all walks of life and races, with many of them experiencing a mental health or drug crisis, but the toll disproportionately hit Black people.
- The youngest person who died was 15; the oldest, 95.
- In 740 of the cases, officers held the person in what is known as prone restraint, placing them facedown and, in many cases, applying pressure on their back.
- In some of the deaths, the narratives in police records and autopsy reports didn’t match what was captured on cameras or witnessed by bystanders.
- Medical officials cited law enforcement as causing or contributing to about half of the deaths in the database. In many others, significant police force went unmentioned and drugs or pre-existing health conditions were blamed instead.
- Police say they are often responding to volatile and sometimes violent situations, and deaths are rare.
For the full story, explore the interactive database and visual story, AP’s written stories and the forthcoming documentary.
Watch On Your Schedule: “Documenting Police Use of Force” will be available to watch in full at pbs.org/frontline, at apnews.com and in the PBS App starting April 30, 2024, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel at 10/9c.
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Credits: A FRONTLINE production with Trilogy Films and Sony Pictures Television – Nonfiction in association with The Associated Press. The writer, producer and director is Serginho Roosblad. The producer is Mike Shum. The AP journalists are editor Justin Pritchard and reporters Martha Bellisle, Ryan J. Foley, Kristin M. Hall, Aaron Morrison and Mitch Weiss. The senior producer is Nina Chaudry. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
FRONTLINE and AP have collaborated extensively in the past, most recently on the Academy Award®-winning documentary "20 Days in Mariupol."
Filmmaker Quotes:
“We’re so pleased to continue our ongoing partnership with The Associated Press and to work with The Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism to tackle this critical, multiplatform investigation,” said FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath. “We hope that this interactive, documentary and joint accountability reporting will offer a comprehensive and probing look at police use of force in America.
“This investigation took three years in the making and delivers the most expansive tally of restraint-related deaths nationwide,” said Ron Nixon, AP’s vice president for investigative, enterprise, grants and partnerships. “We are pleased to collaborate with FRONTLINE and The Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism to deliver this important investigation delving into police restraint and its lack of accountability in the United States.”
