AG Ford Releases First ‘Use of Force’ Incident Report

The office of the Nevada Attorney General has issued the first statewide report (see below) on use of force incidents in the Silver State. In 2021, the Nevada Legislature passed Senate Bill 212, which provided a mandate for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office to review use of force data collected by the Nevada Department of Public Safety’s Central Repository for Nevada Records of Criminal History (Central Repository) and prepare an annual report with our findings and recommendations.

All 23 use of force incidents took place between April and November 2023.  Of the 54 reporting agencies in the state, eight indicated one or more reportable use of force incidents that were substantiated.

The eight agencies include:

• Henderson Police Department: 8
• Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department: 5
• Nevada Highway Patrol: 2
• Reno Police Department: 3
• Washoe County Sheriff’s Office: 2
• North Las Vegas Police Department: 1
• Storey County Sheriff’s Office: 1
• Sparks Police Department: 1

Of these 23 incidents, nine of them involved the death of a person resulting from police use of force. 50 police officers were involved in the incidents. The report does not does not include an analysis of whether the use of force by these agencies was justified.

“This first review of the use of force data collected by the central repository allows my office to fully examine what’s happening in our state’s law enforcement agencies,” “The annual release of our report is key to building community trust with law enforcement and ensuring that no objectionable patterns or practices in Nevada’s law enforcement agencies are overlooked.”