More suspects injured by dog bites while being arrested in 2019: Saskatoon police report

More than one hundred suspects were injured by Saskatoon police last year while being arrested.

That's according to a new police report that will bereviewed by Saskatoon'sBoard of Police Commissioners on Thursday.

Saskatoon police used force 271 times in 2019 and 119 suspects were injured while being arrested, the report said.

The use of force is comparable to the two previous years, but injuriesto suspects haveincreased.

In 2018 police used force 256 times and 81 suspects were injured, and in 2017 police used force 264 times and there were 110 injuries.

The report said the increase in suspects being injured is mainly due to the increased use of the canine unit.

About a third of suspects injured in 2019 43 injurieswere the result ofdog bites.

Police injuries

Twenty six officers were injured on the job with one officer needing to be hospitalized.

Police did notfire their guns at any suspects last year, but they didfire their weapons 12 times to destroy animals.

Police employ spit socks

A spit sock, which prevents officers from being spit on, was used 28 times.

And suspects were put in restraint chairs 18 times to prevent self harm while in detention, the report said.

Other uses of force included:

• Stun gun: 32 times.
• Physically striking suspect: 107 times.
• Joint lock: 18 times.
• Takedown/throw: 50 times.
• Use of tactical team: 35 times.

Police responded to 86,144 calls in 2019 and made 13,713 arrests.

That means police used force less than two per cent of the time when making an arrest, the report said.

The Provincial Defensive Tactics manual, which was last updated in 2014, is being revised this year.

The report noted that sometimes more than one type of force was used while making a single arrest.