The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office is reporting a slight downtick in uses of force last year — yet deputies sent more people to the hospital.
The annual use of force report shows total incidents, such as deputies punching people or using batons, pepper spray and flash bangs, decreased from 627 in 2023 to 621 in 2024. Of the 621 total incidents, more than 500 were in the jail and 113 happened out in the community. Yet these incidents required more people to be treated at the hospital, from 24 hospital visits in 2023 to 33 in 2024 — a year when in-custody deaths also reached a 20-year high .
“It indicates that higher levels of use of force are being used,” Sean Allen, president of the NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley and a former longtime correctional officer, told San José Spotlight…