BCI Data Shows Frequency of Use-of-Force Investigations Held Steady in 2023

• January 2, 2024

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) saw a similar volume of requests for investigations of officer-involved critical incidents (OICI) in 2023 compared to last year, according to data released today by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Local law enforcement agencies requested BCI to investigate 58 OICIs in 2023, one fewer than in 2022. Under AG Yost’s leadership, BCI has investigated over 260 officer-involved critical incidents since 2019.

BCI’s Special Investigations Unit led investigations for 55 of 2023’s OICIs, with assistance from other sections of BCI, including the Crime Scene, Cyber Crimes and Criminal Intelligence units. For three incidents, local agencies only requested the services of BCI’s Crime Scene Unit to process crime scenes.

Thirty-four OICI investigations were completed and referred to the appropriate county prosecuting attorneys, and 24 investigations remain active and ongoing.

Click here for a list of BCI’s OICI investigations and their statuses.

In 2023, 40 individual law enforcement agencies submitted requests to BCI to investigate officer-involved shootings.

  • The most frequent requestor of BCI was the Columbus Division of Police (11), followed by the Canton Police Department (3) and the Ohio State Highway Patrol (3).

  • Thirteen sheriff’s offices requested BCI to conduct at least one investigation in 2023.

  • August was the busiest month for BCI units as they opened 9 investigations within a span of 24 days.

 

While several law enforcement officers were shot, no officers died during officer-involved shootings in 2023.

Transparency

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office remains committed to post-investigation transparency in all officer-involved critical incidents.

This commitment means the public is given access to records after BCI has completed its investigation – a process that forms the basis for any legal action stemming from the incident – and either a prosecutor or grand jury has decided not to indict the case, or the case has been adjudicated in court.

AG Yost began posting complete investigative files to the AGO’s website in 2020 for all fatal officer-involved critical incidents investigated by BCI and/or prosecuted by the attorney general’s Special Prosecutions Section.

 
 

In 2023, 28 case files were added, including over 1,100 investigative reports and over 650 video files. The files, which include numerous photographs and graphic reconstruction comprise nearly 850 gigabytes of data.

The investigative files have gained over 25,000 pageviews as the public has accessed the files.

About the Process

Ohio law enforcement has sole jurisdiction to investigate their agency’s own officer-involved critical incidents, but many communities turn to BCI to conduct an independent investigation.

“There are no surprises when BCI is requested to investigate an officer-involved shooting – we’ve literally written the book on how to conduct a use-of-force investigation and made it available for anyone to review,” Yost said.

“Best Practices for Investigating an Officer-Involved Critical Incident” was published by BCI Special-Agent-in-Charge Mark Kollar in 2021 and is available on the AGO website here.

  • BCI defines an officer-involved critical incident as the discharge of a firearm by a law enforcement officer during the course of their duties that is directed at another person, any incident in which a law enforcement officer suffers serious physical harm or death at the hands of another, and any incident involving the use of force by a law enforcement officer against another person.

  • Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code section 109.54, BCI must be formally invited to become involved in an investigation by a formal request or by a memorandum of understanding.

  • BCI investigations into officer-involved critical incidents seek the facts and circumstances of each incident and do not include any determination of fault. The legality of the actions involved are determined by a county prosecuting attorney and/or grand jury.

  • Additional information about the investigative process is available on the AGO’s website.

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