Use of Force

Dear Yale Community,

Yale Public Safety has released its 2022 Use of Force annual report to keep the community informed about the circumstances in which Yale police officers used force.

Federal and Connecticut laws mandate that an officer can only use the appropriate amount of force necessary and reasonable to accomplish lawful objectives and to control a situation, effect an arrest, overcome resistance to arrest, or defend themselves or others from harm.

Over the past five years, the number of uses of force incidents has trended downward. I attribute this trend to effectively triaging incidents to the appropriate personnel, training our officers individually and in group settings, and continuing to educate the Yale community on how to stay safe. However, comparing data from 2021 to 2022, we saw a slight increase in officers’ use of force. This number increased primarily due to the return of the Yale on-campus population to pre-pandemic staffing levels.

Yale Police take use of force encounters seriously. Every use of force incident is reviewed by the shift supervisor, shift commander, division head, assistant chief, and me. Serious offenses are brought to Yale’s Police Advisory Board, comprised of Yale and New Haven community members.

We don’t take our role as officers or our commitment to protect and serve lightly. We are committed to our values of integrity, trust, commitment, and courage.

If you have questions about the report, please feel free to reach out to my office at 203-432-4400.

Peace be with you,

Regards,
Anthony Campbell ’95 B.A.,’09 M.Div.