A drunken stripper. A 16-year-old in juvenile detention. A teenager, handcuffed in a squad car.
The three had something in common. Each was beaten by a uniformed law enforcement officer. Each officer was punished.
But numbers show they were in the minority. According to a database of police discipline created by First Coast News, there have been 594 force complaints lodged against the current crop of patrol officers. Of those, just nine were “sustained” by internal investigators -- less than 1.52 percent.
“What people call a use of force violation is not really a use of force violation,” says Lt. Chris Brown, who oversees JSO’s Professional Standards Unit and spent five years in Internal Affairs. He says most force complaints arise out of a fundamental misunderstanding about what force is allowed.
By state law and JSO policy, even passive resistance may be met physical force. That’s why something seemingly innocuous like a peaceful protestor’s refusal to instantly comply with a command to submit, escalates quickly into a takedown, or worse.
“Most people understand that a police officer shouldn’t be cursing at them. Most people understand that a police officer should write a report if it’s appropriate to do so,” he says. “But when we go to use of force … they may not understand the policy.”
Force complaints may involve brutality, or force that just seems disproportionate. For instance: JSO policy requires restraints on people being transported to jail -- which is why a mom who shoplifts nail polish may find herself cuffed and stuffed into a squad car with her kids watching.
“Metal handcuffs being applied to your wrist and sitting in the back of a police car for a while,” says Brown. “It’s gonna hurt.”
Brown says that, “use of force it’s just a controversial subject no matter what the political climate is. But use of force is an absolute necessity in police work.”
But attorney Tom Fallis, who has sued the city over excessive force, sees it differently. “They get into their mode,” says Fallis, “and it’s an attack mode.”
READ MORE: The high cost of police brutality claims
Fallis won one of the largest judgments against JSO in city history in the case of Germaine Dubose, who was arrested with force in what was initially classified as an “excessive tint” stop. (Charges against him were later dropped.)
JSO determined an investigation into his excessive force complaint was “not warranted” and offered Dubose $500. A jury disagreed and awarded 744 times that.
It was one of the largest verdicts against JSO, but three recently filed federal use of force lawsuits detail seven instances of alleged brutality between 2006 and 2013. In each case, officers were accused of violence that resulted in significant injury. None resulted in discipline. JSO has not yet filed a response to the lawsuits.
Brown says the fact that only nine force complaints were sustained fails to include those cases that resulted in more significant discipline. Some 47 JSO employees (including corrections officers) have been arrested since Sheriff Mike Williams took over in 2015; 35 of them were terminated or resigned while under investigation.
“That number nine doesn’t include all of those as well, but I know we’ve had a number of those sustained over the years, Brown said.
First Coast News spoke to dozens of current and former officers for this story. Most said the agency’s discipline summary -- known as the officer concise history -- does not fairly reflect performance. Some say it contains too little information, others say it unfairly preserves minor complaints in amber, trailing officers for decades.
We will continue to report on this issue over the next month as part of an ongoing series on officer discipline.