Kingston Police chief releases use of force report for 2024
February 24, 2025
The Ministry of the Solicitor General requires use of force statistics to monitor and assess police conduct, ensure accountability, and inform policy decisions aimed at improving public safety and reducing unnecessary force by law enforcement.
In advance of the February 2025 meeting of the Kingston Police Services Board (KPSB), Kingston Police Chief Scott Fraser released his Use of Force Report January-December 2024, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. Fraser’s statistical review for 2024 indicates that Kingston Police submitted 82 reports for the use of force in 73 separate incidents. This is down from 2023’s statistics, when 91 reports were submitted in 85 separate incidents.
Per General Order Vol. I-A-24, “Use of Force,” members are required to complete a Use of Force Report whenever they:
- draw (display) a handgun or carbine in the presence of a member of the public, excluding a member of the police force while on duty;
- point a firearm at a person;
- discharge a firearm;
- use a weapon other than a firearm on another person; or
- use physical force on another person that results in injury requiring medical attention (this includes injury to another member involved in the incident).
After supervisor review and approval, the Use of Force Reports are examined by the Training Unit.
The report notes first the use of force methods used in 2024 as compared to 2023. Physical control was used three times in 2023 but not at all in 2024.
Oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray, colloquially known as "pepper spray," was deployed twice in 2024, compared to zero uses in 2023. The chief notes that the two deployments of OC spray in 2024 related to two incidents involving individuals who were uncooperative and/or resisting arrest. In one instance, the subject, who was wanted, “was barricaded in a residence with a sword, refusing to exit.”
Police firearms were drawn or displayed in the presence of a member of the public (excluding a member of the police force while on duty) six times in 2024, compared to 10 times in 2023. In 2024, police pointed firearms at individuals 53 times; in 2023, it was 57.
In his report, the chief notes that, in the incidents where firearms were displayed or pointed, the suspects were either “extremely violent and/or known or suspected to be armed with firearms or other weapons.” Thirty-two of the reports involving drawing or pointing a firearm were unrelated to the planned execution of a warrant, and many of these incidents involved a response by multiple officers, which is reflected in the reported statistics.
The report notes that firearms were discharged in only two instances in 2024 compared to six times in 2023. In both cases in 2024, the firearm was discharged to dispatch an injured animal.
Conducted Energy Weapons (CEWs), commonly called tasers, were displayed 18 times and pointed seven times in 2024. In 2023, 12 were displayed and eight pointed. The chief’s report notes that the CEWs were used during incidents involving subjects who were intoxicated, actively committing a crime, aggressive towards civilians or responding officers, possessing or thought to be possessing a weapon, threatening self-harm or suicide, attempting to flee a search/arrest warrant, or a combination of the former. There were three effective and four ineffective deployments of a CEW. Deployments occurred during calls involving subjects who were “high-risk, combative, and/or attempting to flee.” Fraser further notes that in six of the occurrences, subjects were armed with firearms, knives, tasers, OC spray, and/or other objects that could be used as a weapon.
In one instance in 2024, the “weapon” police deployed was a canine (K9), a police dog. No use of force involving a dog was reported for 2023. The chief notes that in the instance of canine use of force, individuals were avoiding police after being observed smuggling contraband over the barricade of a Corrections Canada facility. The canine member was used to track and locate the subjects.
Often, the subjects who were involved in use-of-force incidents were armed. In 2024 subjects were armed with knives (13), pistols (four), swords/machetes (four), long guns (two), metal objects (two), a hammer, a wooden stake, a BB gun, a baseball bat, and a crossbow. In the previous year there were incidents involving knives (nine), metal objects (four), long guns (two), pepper spray (two), a pistol, a hammer, a pair of scissors, a shovel, a BB gun, a baseball bat, a chair, a fan, a baton, a taser, and a vehicle.
The chief’s report also notes the race and gender identity of the subjects involved in use of force. He points out that the information is solely based on the officer's perception during the interaction. White males accounted for most incidents in 2024 (66) and 2023 (81). Force was used on white females in 16 cases in 2024 and 41 cases in 2023. Twenty Black males and one Black female were involved in use of force incidents in 2024 compared with 10 Black males and one Black female in 2023. Force was not used on Indigenous males or females in 2024, but it was on three Indigenous males and one female in 2023. In 2024, force was also used on four Middle Eastern males, a South Asian male, and one South Asian female. In 2023, use of force was also reported in the cases of three South Asian males, one Latino male, and one Middle Eastern male.
In his report, Fraser includes a graphic representing the Use of Force Model. He explains that the graphic is intended to explain a police officer’s use of force options, profiled behaviours, and situation assessment processes.
“The selection of a force option is based on a number of variables, including but not limited to the subject, the circumstances of the encounter, the degree of resistance, and the nature of the offence. During the encounter, the member is constantly reassessing the situation and may change the force option one or more times,” the report states.
The chief notes that during some incidents, officers used more than one use of force option. In addition, verbal interaction was employed in incidents involving persons present.
Kingstonist will follow up on the presentation of these statistics following the meeting of the Police Services Board on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025.
The Kingston Police Services Board meets regularly on the third Thursday of each month, beginning at 12 noon in the William Hackett Boardroom at Kingston Police Headquarters, 705 Division Street.