The Class of "Preventable Shootings"
Investigating the Recent Recurrence of Fatal Police Shootings
According to data collected by the Washington Post...since 2015 more than 4,500 people in the US have been victims of fatal police shootings.
On average, that is roughly 987 people who are shot and killed by law enforcement every year.
In the past year, 997 people have been shot and killed by police.
Fatal Shootings by Year
Looking at each year, we can see that the story remains the same...
...The majority of the shootings involved males...more than half of these victims were not fleeing and in some cases the victims were unarmed or carrying a non-lethal weapon (e.g. toy gun, knife, baseball bat etc.)
More than half of these cases involved victims being perceived as a "threat" by the law enforcement officer(s) involved.
Take, for instance, the story of Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson, who were shot and killed by law enforcement officers after being "perceived as threats" in their own homes.
Botham Jean
(1991-2018)
Botham Shem Jean was 26 years old when he was shot and killed on Oct. 6, 2018, in his apartment by Dallas Police Department patrol officer Amber Guyger. Mr. Jean was a Harding University alumnus and an accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
What was the threat?
Amber Guyger entered Mr. Jean's unlocked apartment, thinking it was hers. She felt she was in danger, and as Mr. Jean stood up from his couch while eating ice cream, she shot and killed him.
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson
(1990-2019)
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson was 28 years old, and was watching her nephew when she was shot and killed by police officer Aaron Dean. Atatiana was a pharmaceutical equipment sales professional who had graduated with a degree in biology from Louisiana’s Xavier University. Ms. Jefferson was looking after the house while her mother was hospitalized.
What was the threat?
Ms. Jefferson’s neighbor, James Smith, had called the police to do a routine check because lights were on and doors were open in the house. The police promptly arrived and walked around the residence. They never identified themselves, but noticed a figure at the bedroom window and immediately fired a shot that killed her.
Since 2005, research shows that only 35 officers have been convicted of crimes related to an on-duty fatal shooting.
Research by Philip Stinson , a professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, shows that between 2005 and Jun 4, 2019, 104 officers had been arrested of murder or manslaughter charges for on-duty shootings. Since 2005, only 35 have been convicted of a crime resulting from an on-duty shooting (15 by guilty plea and 20 by jury trial).
These facts show how rare it is for the deceased victims of these shootings to get a fair trial, because the only perspective of what happened comes from the law enforcement officer(s) involved.
These victims never got the chance to tell their side of the story.
When Black Girls M.A.P.P. was investigating data collected by the Washington Post, we found a few common items among the stories we reviewed:
Race Matters
The majority of incidents involved White Males. Blacks and Hispanics make up roughly half of the remaining shooting incidents (40%).
When looking specifically at unarmed victims, the incidents that involved Blacks (who make up roughly 13% of the US population) was only 1% lower than incidents involving whites (who make up roughly 61.3% of US Population).
What does this tell us?
When compared to their proportion of the total US population, Black males are roughly three times more likely to be killed by law enforcement, and in "unarmed" incidents, they are almost four times more likely to be killed than white victims.
Age Matters
The highest proportion of fatal shooting victims by law enforcement is between the ages of 24 and 36 years old.
What does this tell us?
Millennials, people born between the years 1983 and 1995, have a higher likelihood of being shot and killed by law enforcement.
Location Matters
When considering population size, New Mexico has the highest occurrence of law enforcement shootings, followed by Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, West Virginia, Montana, Arkansas, Wyoming, and Idaho.
Looking at the highest shootings by City, Los Angeles has the most law enforcement shootings, followed by Phoenix, Houston, Las Vegas, and San Antonio.
What does this tell us?
Regions with higher populations of Blacks and/or Hispanics seem to show a greater occurrence of killings by law enforcement. This is likely due to several factors (crime and incarceration rate, household income, etc.), but the main issue we see is that the impact of "shooter’s bias" is much greater in regions with high minority populations.
Time Matters
Since 2015, the months of March and July seem to have higher activity, with an average of 80 fatal police shootings per month.
In addition, shootings seem to be occurring at higher rates during the week.
What does this tell us?
Further research is needed in this area, such as using predictive logic to track patterns that can help explain why this is occurring. Longitudinal tracking will enable community members and researchers to further investigate areas with high peak activity.
Perception Matters
The majority of testimonies about incidents that lead to the victims' death indicated that law enforcement officers felt that they were "under attack" by the victim.
Not all victims had clean records when reviewing the data. Some had offenses prior to their encounters with law enforcement officers.
Yet more than half of the victims were not fleeing from law enforcement, and were either unarmed or carrying a non-lethal weapon such as a knife or toy gun.
What does this tell us?
Perception of "a threat" seems to be a common thread among law enforcement officers’ description of what occurred as they approached a person of interest. However, further research is needed to address the following questions:
- Since the majority of victims were not fleeing, how likely is it for someone who is not fleeing to comply with law enforcement?
- How likely is someone who has had prior offenses to be shot and killed by law enforcement?
- When a victim is armed with a gun, are they the legal owners of that weapon? And if they are, was that weapon used against a law enforcement officer before the victim was shot and killed?
The Story Matters
Since 2015, in roughly 500 of the more than 4,500 shooting incidents, the law enforcement officer involved was wearing a body camera that was on. In other words, body cameras were being used in about 11 percent in these tragic situations.
What does this tell us?
In most cases (89 percent) body cameras were either not on or didn't record anything, which raises the question: Why aren't body cameras being used or turned on?
What can we do about this?
At the end of the day we need to remember that when a person who was wrongly "perceived as a threat" is shot, it's not just the victim and law enforcement personnel who pay the price. Families of both parties, and the communities connected to both parties, are also impacted by these tragic situations.
These shootings affect all of us.
- Accountability, "shooter’s bias" training, and body cam transparency by law enforcement needs to be handled with much more care.
- We also need to identify areas where the highest shootings are happening and create intensive training for both law enforcement and civilians in these areas.
- Greater community involvement is needed to help push for more transparency and training, which will drive improvement of state policies.
As we have seen from our research, gender, race, and age play a major role in what is perceived as a threat to law enforcement officers. We should look into other preventative methods and training that can assist in keeping all people safe...even those who pose a threat.
Keanon Lowe disarms, embraces student who brought gun to Parkrose High School: Surveillance video
Maybe we can learn from the story of the coach and security guard Keanon Lowe , who disarmed a student who had brought a gun to school. This student posed a major threat to Lowe’s safety, yet he not only quickly deescalated the situation without anyone being harmed, but also was seen showing human compassion to the student involved.
Furthermore, the punishment for shooting of unarmed civilians by law enforcement officers needs to be analyzed and re-evaluated.
If the penalty for law enforcement officers convicted for murder remains roughly 12 years or less (with a chance for 5-6 years of probation), then these preventable shootings will continue to happen. Law enforcement must be held accountable for their actions.
Civilians are being held accountable...it’s time for law enforcement to be held accountable too.
Oscar grant was shot and killed by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Mehserle was convicted and sentenced to only 11 months in prison.
Make "police brutality" a priority in the election
BGMAPP is focusing it's efforts on educating and empowering at risk communities to enforce change on these historical disparities and related deaths.
Stay tuned for our newest collection of projects #PeopleForThePeople that will highlight resources to help inform your vote which can influence change for the many issues such as this one in your community.
Notes about our Data
- Live Data has been updated by the Washington Post since we began our analysis on Oct. 15, 2019.
- You can find our full data analysis report here
Want to do something about this?
- Check out https://www.joincampaignzero.org/force
Other helpful resources:
- Research by https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
- Research by citylab.com
Author (s)
Black Girls M.A.P.P. | bgmapp.org
