WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Police Service has released its use of force report for 2019, and it shows that the use of force by officers has slightly gone up compared to 2018.

Police said officers responded to 231,668 calls last year, and of those calls, 857 involved the use of force. That is a percentage of 0.37 per cent, which is higher than the 0.34 per cent in 2018.

Despite the slight rise, the number is still below the five-year average of 0.398 per cent.

The report also looks at how officers were able to restore order and gain compliance. It shows that in 35.12 per cent of the cases, officers used intermediate weapons such as Tasers and batons. That is slightly up compared to 2018's number of 33.29 per cent.

But, other forms of control all dropped compared to the previous year, including deadly force being presented or deployed, which went from 20.34 per cent in 2018 to 19.25 per cent in 2019.

Of the incidents using an intermediate weapon, a Taser was pulled 274 times. The probes were deployed 154 times, which is up from 89 in 2018. Officers used the push stun on the weapon 26 times. The other 94, it was pulled out or used to coerce someone.

The report also highlighted that 18.32 per cent of the time, officers dealt with someone who demonstrated aggravated active aggression, and of those incidents, officers encountered someone with a forearm 37 times.

That number is up from 30 the year before and even more so from the 26 incidents in 2017.

Police added that edged weapons continue to be used the most, as there were 70 cases in 2019.

USE OF DEADLY FORCE

Police said, even though 19.25 per cent of instances involved a firearm from police, most of the incidents were officers pulling their guns and not using them.

There were five police-involved shootings in 2019 and two people died from their injuries. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba investigated both incidents and officers were cleared in each situation with the report saying force was necessary or unavoidable.

In the use of force incidents, 253 subjects were injured, which is 29.52 per cent of the time, and that was a similar number in 2018.

Officers were also injured 88 times, or 10.26 per cent, which dropped by three percentage points compared to 2018.

The WPS said it monitors all incidents to make sure officers are using force reasonably and necessarily. It also said the Officer Safety Unit continues to adjust initial and recertification training for officers and cadets.

The report will be discussed at a Police Board Meeting on June 8.

People can view the entire report online