Aurora Police Department officers were involved in 757 use-of-force incidents last year, a 21% increase from the number of incidents in 2022 and 29% more than in 2021.

The report, which Aurora police officials have said will become an annual report, describes “use of force” as an incident in which an officer uses “force to overcome resistance by a subject.”

In 2023, Aurora police generated 757 use-of-force incidents involving 791 subjects, 100-plus more than in 2022, when they reported 627, and in 2021, when they had 588.

Of the total number of use of force subjects last year, 309 identified as Black, 235 identified as White, 173 identified as Hispanic, 54 did not specify race and 21 identified as another race, according to the report. 

The report was released in the midst of ongoing protests by family members and supporters of Kilyn Lewis, a suspect killed while officers were trying to arrest on an attempted murder warrant. He was not armed.

Video footage showed officers yelling for him to “get on the ground,” and he started to walk along the driver’s side of the car toward the front. At first, the videos showed, his hands are in plain view and they are empty. But when Lewis faces oncoming police, the videos showed, he did not appear to comply with the order.

A police official’s narration described Lewis as putting his left hand into his pants’ pocket, taking out a cellphone out of his back pocket with his right hand. He was shot and killed by Aurora Police Department SWAT officer Michael Dieck in May.

Earlier in November, the department completed its administrative investigation regarding the incident and determined Dieck — a 13-year-veteran of the department — did not violate agency policy when he shot 37-year-old Lewis in the stomach on May 23.

The department decision came a little over a month after the investigation held by the 18th Judicial District’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT), which also deemed Dieck justified in his use of force, with the district attorney deciding there was no basis to file criminal charges.

Lewis’ family and supporters have conducted protests and spoke at almost every Aurora City Council meeting since the shooting.

A family statement following the District Attorney’s conclusions said “the decisions made by the leaders of Aurora are a grave injustice … This decision is not only a failure of justice but a message that the life of an unarmed Black man like Kilyn means nothing to the very system that is supposed to protect us.”

Aurora’s independent consent decree monitor, who has brought more oversight and scrutiny to the city and its police department in recent years, has raised questions over Lewis’s death.

The consent decree monitor was initially set up following Aurora and APD’s handling of the death of Elijah McClain in an effort to improve how officers use force and interact with people of color. McClain, who was simply walking home from a convenience store, was stopped and detained by several APD officers, injected with a lethal dose of of ketamine and died. The police chief at the time, and the district attorney, cleared those officers. A grand jury later convened by Attorney General Phil Weiser issued criminal charges against the officers and paramedics.

In total, Aurora officers made 6,777 arrests in 2023, meaning that 11% of all arrests involved use of force. There were a total of 253,028 calls for service to the department in 2023, meaning that less than 1% of calls involved uses of force.

The report also divided the uses of force by level — from low-level uses of force, which are unlikely to cause injury, to lethal uses of force, which result in serious bodily injury or death. 

Aurora had 632 low-level use of force reports, 121 intermediate reports, and four lethal reports in 2023. The number of lethal reports last year went down from 13 in 2022 and from eight in 2021.

“When use of force is necessary during an incident, the Aurora Police Department is committed to utilizing the least amount of force necessary to gain control of the situation,” the report summary stated. 

When officers are involved in uses of force, they are required to notify a supervisor immediately afterward. If the use of force was considered low-level or intermediate, the supervisor will go to the scene and do a preliminary investigation. 

If the use of force is considered lethal, the department initiates a more in-depth investigative process, getting the critical incident response team involved.

The use of force report is part of Aurora Police Department’s efforts in recent years to increase transparency. In February, the department announced the launch of a transparency portal, which is updated weekly with crime and use of force statistics. 

“The Aurora Police Department’s mission to make the city of Aurora safer every day requires ongoing evaluation of the department’s policies and procedures to ensure they best serve the needs of the community while also reducing crime,” the report said.