FRONTLINE, AP Launch Project Documenting Deaths After Police Use of Force

Expansive Findings Unfold in an Interactive Story, Database & Series of Articles Beginning Today, and a Documentary Premiering April 30, 2024

Documenting Police Use of Force Premieres Tuesday, April 30, 2024 7/6c: pbs.org/frontline, APNews.com, PBS App 10/9c: PBS stations (check local listings), YouTube & the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel www.facebook.com/frontline | X (formerly Twitter): @frontlinepbs Instagram: @frontlinepbs | YouTube: youtube.com/frontline

Every day, police rely on common tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them, such as physical holds, Tasers and body blows. But when misused, these tactics involving what police call “less-lethal force” can still end in death. 

The federal government has struggled for years to count these types of deaths, and the little information it collects is often kept from the public and incomplete. But starting today, a multiplatform investigation from a team led by The Associated Press offers the most extensive accounting ever compiled of deaths following these kinds of encounters. 

Carried out in collaboration with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism programs at the University of Maryland and Arizona State University and FRONTLINE (PBS), AP’s three-year investigation documented 1,036 such deaths over the decade from 2012-2021. An unprecedented interactive database of these cases, and visual story, are now available to the public at apnews.com and pbs.org/frontline. 

The reporting draws on tens of thousands of documents, including autopsies, police incident reports and never-before-published footage from body-worn cameras and bystander cell phones. In addition to the interactive and accompanying written stories, what the team uncovered will be featured in a documentary airing April 30 on FRONTLINE called Documenting Police Use of Force. It is directed by Serginho Roosblad, a filmmaker who is part of the AP’s Global Investigations team, and produced by Mike Shum (Police on Trial, American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil).  

Among the project’s findings:

• Those who died were of all walks of life and races, with many of them experiencing a mental health or drug crisis, but the toll disproportionately hit Black people. 
• The youngest person who died was 15; the oldest, 95.
• In 740 of the cases, officers held the person in what is known as prone restraint, placing them facedown and, in many cases, applying pressure on their back. 
• In some of the deaths, the narratives in police records and autopsy reports didn’t match what was captured on cameras or witnessed by bystanders.  
• Medical officials cited law enforcement as causing or contributing to about half of the deaths in the database. In many others, significant police force went unmentioned and drugs or pre-existing health conditions were blamed instead.
• Police say they are often responding to volatile and sometimes violent situations, and deaths are rare. 

For the full story, explore the interactive database and visual story, AP’s written stories and the forthcoming documentary. The trailer for the documentary is available now.

FRONTLINE and AP have collaborated extensively in the past, most recently on the Academy Award®-winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol.

“We’re so pleased to continue our ongoing partnership with The Associated Press and to work with The Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism to tackle this critical, multiplatform investigation,” said FRONTLINE editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath. “We hope that this interactive, documentary and joint accountability reporting will offer a comprehensive and probing look at police use of force in America.”

“This investigation took three years in the making and delivers the most expansive tally of restraint-related deaths nationwide,” said Ron Nixon, AP’s vice president for investigative, enterprise, grants and partnerships. “We are pleased to collaborate with FRONTLINE and The Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism to deliver this important investigation delving into police restraint and its lack of accountability in the United States.”

Documenting Police Use of Force will be available to watch in full at pbs.org/frontline, at apnews.com and in the PBS App starting April 30, 2024, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel at 10/9c and will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel. The documentary is distributed internationally by PBS International. Subscribe to FRONTLINE’s newsletter to get updates on events, podcast episodes and more related to Documenting Police Use of Force.

 

Credits Documenting Police Use of Force is a FRONTLINE production with Trilogy Films and Sony Pictures Television – Nonfiction in association with The Associated Press. The writer, producer and director is Serginho Roosblad. The producer is Mike Shum. The AP journalists are editor Justin Pritchard and reporters Martha Bellisle, Ryan J. Foley, Kristin M. Hall, Aaron Morrison and Mitch Weiss. The senior producer is Nina Chaudry. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

About FRONTLINE FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won an Academy Award® as well as every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 106 Emmy Awards and 31 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

About AP The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day. Online: www.ap.org.

About the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism The Scripps Howard Fund established Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland in 2018 to help train the next generation of investigative reporters. While both schools teach investigative skills to masters students and select undergraduates by producing national multimedia investigations, each has a different emphasis. The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU specializes in recruiting career switchers, laying investigative skills on top of existing skills in other fields. Philip Merrill College of Journalism at UMD focuses heavily on teaching data journalism skills, using innovative data approaches as the basis for all its projects. Visit the Howard Centers online at https://cronkite.asu.edu/experiences/howard-center/ and https://merrill.umd.edu/howard-center-for-investigative-journalism. Check out additional stories from Howard Center student reporters at https://police.cnsmaryland.org/.

Press Contacts: FRONTLINE: Anne Husted, Associate Director of Publicity, Communications and Awards | frontlinemedia@wgbh.org | 6173005312