GREEN BAY, WI -- You've seen it all over the news, and plastered on social media: police use of force caught on camera--in some cases over the top, excessive, even fatal.
The nationwide issue has been sparking protests across the country, and a national push for change.
In our Scripps/NBC26 Focus on Force investigation, we ask: is the use of force on the rise?
There's more than one way a police officer can use force, and the definition of when something is considered "use of force" can vary from one department to the next.
In our investigation, we asked four of our area's major police departments for their figures.
And the numbers don't lie: in most cases--nationally, and locally--use of force is on a downward trend.
It's a difficult fact to remember when there are seemingly endless videos online, and on the news, showing officers tackling people, throwing teenagers to the ground, even opening fire on fleeing or unarmed suspects.
And Northeast Wisconsin is no exception, with one controversial arrest made by Green Bay police in 2014 caught on camera.
Officer Derek Wicklund can be seen in the video throwing a man against a car, and to the ground, as people stand by recording the entire scene.
Officer Wicklund's use of force was eventually deemed appropriate by the State Department of Justice.
In response to the swarm of national attention, thousands of people have been taking to the streets--from Ferguson, to Madison--protesting what they call excessive force, and police brutality.
The anger has also been sparking a backlash of violence against police, in some cases leading to fatal shootings of police officers at random.
"Right now, of course, our biggest mission is trying to make sure that we have public confidence," says Richard Beary, President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, "and public trust in what the men and women do on the streets every single day."
But the numbers are painting a different picture that shows use of force incidents dropping.
As part of a nationwide investigation, using data from more than 60 agencies across the country, our Scripps investigative team of reporters dug into use of force records.
NBC26 discovered more than half of the agencies show use of force actually going down, with just a quarter with use of force on the rise.
"When the public sees the millions and millions and millions of citizen contacts that we have and that 99 percent of them no force is used, that is powerful," says Beary.
But tensions and distrust are still high, as new cases continue to flood the airwaves.
Amidst the public outcry: a call for reform, and more transparency from police when it comes to keeping records of incidents of use of force.
"Every agency needs to have a good solid record of the force that's being used by their officers," says Beary, "and a review of those situations."
"It's not just taking data and compiling it," says Michael Planty, of the Chief Victimization Unit with the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
Planty says such a uniform national database is easier said than done, as what is considered use of force--and how it's broken down--depends on which agency you're asking.
For example, if five police officers point their guns at a suspect, but don't fire their weapons, in some departments each officer would be considered to have used force.
In that case, the numbers add up to five separate use of force cases within one incident where no contact has been made.
"Each of these agencies have different information systems, different policies on use of force," says Planty, "and collect information in various ways."
"I would like to see some standardization," says Beary, "I think it would be a whole lot simpler to look at the data and understand it."
Of the 60-plus agencies Scripps obtained data from, only 25 percent make it easily accessible to the public.
In the cases of Green Bay, Fond du Lac, and Oshkosh Police Departments, use of force data can be made available through an open records request.
In Fond du Lac police records show, from 2013 to 2015, use of force rose slightly in the first two years--from 99, to 101 cases--down to a current 71 so far this year.
While taser deployment is up since last year, in no instance since at least 2012 have officers discharged their firearms at a person.
Oshkosh police records also show a drop in use of force within the same time frame--from 137 incidents in 2013, down to 102 in 2014, and 72 so far in 2015.
Oshkosh police did not provide specifics on which types of force were used in each case.
Green bay police report the highest use of force numbers, with 425 instances in 2013, up to 503 in 2014, and 423 so far this year.
It's unclear whether officers counted each instance of force used within an individual case, which would produce higher numbers.
All three departments declined an interview.
At Appleton Police headquarters, Chief Todd Thomas says they're making their use of force figures as accessible as possible.
Each year, they're releasing an annual report breaking their numbers down to the day of the week, and putting them on the city's website.
"We need to be transparent until it hurts," says Chief Thomas. "We truly do."
According to their numbers, 2010 to 2011 saw more than a 25% drop in use of force incidents--from 85, to 61.
2013 saw a 10-year low for Appleton PD, with 56 instances involving use of force.
In 2014 that number rose to 69, but the data also shows 14 of those cases involving police school liaisons, and an rise in cases where students were damaging school property and threatening other students, and staff.
Now, they're instances that Chief Thomas says are being used as weekly training tools.
"Creating distance, creating time, using your dialogue," describes Thomas, adding that every officer on Appleton PD--including police liaisons--wear body cameras.
Thomas says data is also collected in a way that points out when an officer is using force more often than others.
"It triggers it. It red-flags it," says Chief Thomas, "and it doesn't say he's doing anything wrong, but it notifies us so that we can have a supervisor take a look at those incidents to see if there's a pattern."
Training for police agencies is changing nationwide, with more focus now on deescalation through words, and an increase in crisis intervention training.
That means more officers are being trained on how to appropriately handle the sometimes volatile situations that can come when facing a suspect with mental health issues.
