Inside the Investigation into Police Use of Force

A new investigation reveals that over nearly a decade, more than 1,000 people died following encounters where police employed tactics known as “less-lethal force,” which ranged from Tasers or physical restraint to forced sedation and other methods meant to stop people without killing them. Police say they are often responding to volatile and sometimes violent situations, and deaths are rare.

Drawing on police records, autopsy reports, and footage from cellphones and body-worn cameras, The Associated Press, in collaboration with FRONTLINE and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism, compiled a database that serves as the most extensive accounting ever of deaths following such police encounters. 

Serginho Roosblad, director and producer of the joint documentary Documenting Police Use of Force, and Justin Pritchard, a reporter and editor with the AP, join host Raney Aronson-Rath on The FRONTLINE Dispatch to discuss their findings. 

The investigation also includes an interactive story and database.  

Stream Documenting Police Use of Force on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel, or the PBS App.

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