Comments (15) | Add a comment
Part II: 142 Dead, and Rising
National data on shootings by police not collected
Tools
© 2011, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Looking for the number of burglaries last year in Devils Lake, N.D.? How about the increase in property crimes in Caribou, Maine? The answers (34 and 23 percent, respectively) are readily available from the FBI.
Want detailed information on how many people were shot by police in the United States last year?
That's not so easy to find.
The nation's leading law enforcement agency collects vast amounts of information on crime nationwide, but missing from this clearinghouse are statistics on where, how often, and under what circumstances police use deadly force. In fact, no one anywhere comprehensively tracks the most significant act police can do in the line of duty: take a life.
"We don't have a mandate to do that," said William Carr, an FBI spokesman in Washington, D.C. "It would take a request from Congress for us to collect that data."
Congress, it seems, hasn't asked.
The FBI, which has the power to conduct civil rights investigations related to any questionable use of deadly force by any law enforcement agency, has produced at least one report analyzing shootings over several years by its own agents.
In addition, the agency tracks the total annual number of "justifiable homicides," acts it defines as "the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty," but that only covers people shot while committing a serious crime and the data aren't broken down by agency. In 2010, that number was 387, down from 414 the year before.
While the agency collects, reports, and analyzes murders and assaults where police are the victim, Carr said budgetary concerns would likely preclude collecting such detailed data on shootings by police.
Everyone from the Justice Department to the International Association of Police Chiefs to local and state police agencies have guidelines or policies on use of deadly force. But seldom do they try to quantify and analyze trends.
Some, the Los Angeles and San Diego police departments among them, do analyze shootings involving their own officers.
The Metropolitan Police Department created a statistical breakdown of officer-involved shootings between 2003 and 2008, listing data such as the age, gender, and race of officers and of shooting subjects. Following controversial incidents, the department did a similar breakdown for 2010. But neither report offers any analysis or draws any conclusions from the numbers.
The American Civil Liberties Union said police aren't required to publicly report officer-involved shooting information to anyone, but recently a judge ordered the New York Police Department to release that information to the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The NYPD fought disclosure, arguing it would violate the privacy of the officers and reveal investigative techniques, said Molly Kaplan, an American Civil Liberties Union spokeswoman.
Alan Maimon is a Review-Journal special correspondent.
Trending topics:
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Why would Congress, who in today's modern America serves the interests of the government, and NOT the People whom they are supposed to, want to implicate government employees of using deadly force against the citizens? One would imagine that the FBI would collect stats from police shootings without a Congressional mandate.
@Quintus. Does the fact that a person is "a violent felon" mean that when they are contacted by the police, they can receive a death sentence. Please tell me what crimes Erik Scott was convicted of? How about Tanner Chamberlain, Rafael Olivas, Louis Carlos Silva, Albert Castillo, Abdul Hamlan, Anthony Brenes, Bernard Nolton, and Trevon Cole. What crimes were they convicted of?
Metro handles about 3,000 calls per day. Every day. Of those calls, there are about 45 footpursuits aday. About a murder every other day. About 50 shooting calls ..every day. Scores of fight calls. Scores of Domestic violence call. Scores of Burglaries. bout 10 or so Robberies every day. My best guess is a Metro officer gets transported to the hospital about once every three days on average. Maybe more. Bout 30 "person with a gun " calls. Drunks at every turn. Way too many attempt suicide calls. They serve about 400 Search Warrants a year. This does not even include allof the proactive things. Id suggest that they stop hundreds of cars a day. And the same for person stops. .Id say they get shot at seeral times a year as well. ....And through all of these contacts , they have averaged , what 10-15 shootings a year. Id say they deserve a medal if you ask me.
Lest we all forget that this is a unique town. Only 25 yrs or so removed from the Mafia running this city. This is a city KNOWN for its lawlessness, and violence. Hello, we have a friggin MOB museum! During thos dark years, the Police here out of necessity operated a lil " old school". No doubt. But as of today, this police force is one of the most highly trained ans skilled departments in the world. In fact, almost weekly , we are visited by other agencies coming here to learn from Metro. This include foreign country PD's. I digress...so why is it that 99% of the people on that LIST, are violent Felons?
Im not insinuating that lawful tourists are causing shootings, but those numbers also dont relfect the transiency of this city. There are LARGE number sof thugs that visit our city weekly, and they contribute to the overall crime here. As previously mentioned We are the recipient of Calfirnias three strike rule. Three violent felonies and you get LIFE IN PRISON. this sends las vegas some of the worst felons around to relocate here. Thes SoCal gangsters dont relocate to Oregon, or Utha, and mostly not Arizona. We get the bulk. this infiltration of garbage just stirs the criminal soup here. The fact is BGHS you are not acquainted with the full facts, here and are a rookie at this business, though you speak as though you have any experience. You my sir are a chump.
@RKP.."Am I right or am I right? I notice your leaving this side alone. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA"
Seriously get back on the meds. There isn't anyone named Boulware in this article. But I see you are very much opposed to the person who isn't here. Is he perhaps a giant rabbit?
@Quinus..."Rookie statisticians: Does our PER CAPITA numbers account for the 250,000 amount of tourists here at any given time?" Wow, I never thought of that. SO the 250,0o0 tourists in town are what drives up our number of FOIS AND those 250,000 tourists congregate on the same 3-mile by 1-mile 'Strip' of road, then we can just eliminate all the FOIS that occur in the hotel/casinos along The Strip to get a more accurate picture. So, Quintus, as a Veteran Statistician, how many of these FOIS have talken place in a Strip Casino since 1990?
If your intention is to show how the paper is wrong and that you guys aren't just a collection of uneducated bullying thugs, then keep posting because you are winning that war almost as much as you are winning the war on drugs
Ohhhh.....I seee..BGHS....my bad...so you agree with Boulware..????? Reeally....even you wont side with someone like him. Am I right or am I right? I notice your leaving this side alone. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.
@realitkingpin..its time to adjust those meds, "Boulware is a joke. Hey Boulware..." Who are you talking to? There is no one quoted, mentioned or alluded to by that name. It's these "visions" of yours that keeps making Metro reject your application.
Well, that and you poor reading comprehension skills, "youd rather come on here and talk about cops shooting violent criminals, who in bout 99% of these cases threatened a police officer with a weapon."
This investigation already determined that only 90% of Metro's OIS involved armed subjects and only 29% made any real threat with the weapon.
Time is up for you the SUNLIGHT of facts is beginning to shine down on vampires like you who feed off of blood soaked jack boots.
Metro is the new Murder Inc.