Springfield Police report fewer injuries as calls and arrests rise in 2024

The Springfield Police Department told the City Council and city leadership that officers handled more calls and made more arrests in 2024 while use-of-force events rose only marginally, part of what department leaders described as an ongoing effort to reduce harm and improve accountability.

“These annual reviews are a vital part of how we learn and grow as an agency,” Interim Chief Jamie Rush told councilors as he opened the department’s presentation of the 2024 Use of Force Report. The report, compiled using BlueTeam and IAPRO software, documents force events, types of force used, injuries and related training and policy recommendations.

The nut graf: The SPD recorded 31,931 calls for service and 4,113 arrests in 2024, increases from 31,119 calls and 3,478 arrests in 2023. Despite the higher workload, use-of-force incidents increased by only five events year over year; the department also reported fewer subject injuries in 2024 than in 2023.

Sergeant Kyle Potter, who leads professional standards, said the department now counts each application of force by each officer as a separate “force application,” which raises the numerical count versus counting only events. “2024 is the third full year the Blue Team and iPro software has been used to compile this report,” Potter said, noting the software lets the department compare apples-to-apples across years.

Analyst Lily Wick, who co-authored the report, emphasized statistical limits when data are divided into small subgroups: “We do satisfy this criteria and we do get good data, a good quality of data and a good quantity of data,” she said, but warned that outliers can influence small samples.

Key figures included: - Calls for service: 31,931 (2024) vs. 31,119 (2023). - Arrests: 4,113 (2024) vs. 3,478 (2023). - Use-of-force events: 58 (2024) vs. 53 (2023). - Subject injuries tied to force events: 43 (2024) vs. 52 (2023). - No serious injuries or deaths attributed to officer force in 2024.

The report attributes some changes to training: officers completed crisis intervention team (CIT) trainings and a controlled-tactics session that emphasized control holds and takedown techniques. Potter said the department saw a decrease in takedown-related injuries after the takedown training.

The presentation also described internal review procedures: officers file a BlueTeam entry after an incident, supervisors and lieutenants review it, and professional standards conducts further investigation if warranted. Potter noted the department recently made reporting whether de-escalation was attempted mandatory in the BlueTeam form; prior reporting contained de-escalation entries about 60% of the time.

The department made three follow-up recommendations in the report: examine why the number of force applications per event rose, standardize resistance-type definitions in reporting, and analyze circumstances where de-escalation prevented force (so-called “near misses”). Potter said the department will refine definitions and training to improve the usefulness of the data.

Councilors asked several clarifying questions about regional comparability of use-of-force data, differences between perceived and actual weapons, and how officer injuries are recorded. Potter and Wick said the department reviews other agencies’ practices but emphasized SPD’s broader data collection (including control holds and shows of force) provides a fuller picture. Wick noted that some force-type metrics are highly sensitive to small sample sizes and can swing with a single additional event.

Ending: The report will return to council in subsequent updates as the department implements the recommendations and continues to refine data collection and training.