By Aaron Burgin, The Porterville Recorder
Stats: Totals hit 3-year low locally - Nearly nine months ago, an 18-year-old man fired on Porterville police through the storefront of a local jewelry store, sending bullets whizzing by officers.

Police did not return fire. The act of restraint was the highlight of a year in which police officers reported the lowest number of applications of force in three years. In 2006, police reported 27 incidents in which officers used either a weapon, police dog or their hands to subdue a suspect, down from the 51 occurrences reported in 2005.

The last time police reported fewer than 30 incidents where force was used was in 2003, when 24 episodes were reported. Police also reported fewer pursuits in 2005 — 14 — than in 2006 — 24. Police said they do not know why fewer incidents required force.

“I think that all of our guys would rather resolve a situation without using force,” Porterville Police Department Sgt. Duanne Griffin said. “It definitely is a welcome change. I can’t tell you why we had so many fewer, but we’ll take it.” Law enforcement experts agreed with their assessment — the less force used, the better.

Gary Kuncl, the director of the College of the Sequoias Public Safety Training Program and the longest-tenured police academy instructor in the state, said the decrease is a positive thing. “There are a variety of tools at an officer’s disposal when defusing a situation, and there are those occasions when force is necessary,” Kuncl said. “But I think most would rather resolve a situation before it escalates to that level.”

The use of force, Kuncl said, can have varied impact — including on the officer. “If an officer has to use his firearm, no matter if he is justified in that use, there are going to be repercussions,” Kuncl said. “Not only do you have a person who is likely seriously injured, if not dead, there is also the possibility that the officer will have to deal with the side effects of the incident as well.”

Griffin said while he can’t pin down a single cause, one development that has drastically decreased the likelihood of force having to be used is more use of canines officers. “We’ve seen that just the possibility of a canine being deployed has caused some criminals to comply, where in the past they may not have been compliant,” Griffin said.

The threat of the canine officer does not necessarily lead to more canine-related force incidents. That number significantly decreased between 2005, when 17 incidents were reported, and 2006, when six incidents were reported. “And that is typically what you see happen,” Griffin said about the department’s 12-year program. “Their presence is often enough.”

Perhaps the other thing that is improving, Griffin said, is suspects’ reactions to an arrest. “It is ultimately in most cases up to the suspect to determine what, if any, force will be used at an arrest,” Griffin said. “This year, I think a lot of officers saw suspects more willing to comply with an officer’s command, but there is no way to really quantify that.”

Contact Aaron Burgin at 784-5000, Ext. 1046, or aburgin@portervillerecorder.com.