Stats on police killings

[TeddyR]

WaPo article that indicates most police killings involved armed criminals, the mentally ill or those who attempted to run from the police.

In a year-long study, The Washington Post found that the kind of incidents that have ignited protests in many U.S. communities — most often, white police officers killing unarmed black men — represent less than 4 percent of fatal police shootings. Meanwhile, The Post found that the great majority of people who died at the hands of the police fit at least one of three categories: they were wielding weapons, they were suicidal or mentally troubled, or they ran when officers told them to halt.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/12/26/a-year-of-reckoning-police-fatally-shoot-nearly-1000/

[Rex]

1. Yep.

[ret5hd]

2. Ohhhh...only 4%. Well that's different then!

And heck, I think we can all agree that if someone is suicidal that being killed by a cop is actually doing the person a favor, am I right!!! And the mentally troubled...well, they were always just kinda of a pain in the ass anyway.

Heck, my whole outlook has changed! YAY COPS!!!

[uppityperson]

3. Being shot for being suicidal or running away is asinine. Good article, thank you

Yes, there are some suicide by cop times, and yes, sometimes bad people run from cops. But still too many people uncalled for shootings.

Some police chiefs and training experts say more restrictive rules on when to give chase could prevent unnecessary shootings

Thank dog for videos also.

She could not let Kassick escape, she said, because someone who runs from an officer might be a danger to the community. “Something is wrong here,” she testified, recalling her thinking at the start of the chase. “This is not normal for someone to flee the police.”

Bull.

The analysis found that about 9 in 10 of the mentally troubled people were armed, usually with guns but also with knives or other sharp objects. But the analysis also found that most of them died at the hands of police officers who had not been trained to deal with the mentally ill.
(Clip)

.“anytime anyone involved in an encounter with a police officer doesn’t show their hands, that isn’t a reason to shoot. Ninety-nine point nine percent of police officers use extraordinary restraint in these situations.”

[virgogal]

4. 965 police killed people and roughly 700,000 didn't kill anyone.

That's very good considering how violent this country has become.

[Taitertots]

10. It's over 100 per 100,000 per year!

AND the rest of the country is less violent than ever.

Don't let that stop you from trivializing an ongoing tragedy.

[EX500rider]

5. Considering there are around 30,000 arrests per DAY I'd say they do pretty good.

[cigsandcoffee]

9. It actually seems a miracle it's not worse.

Seems to me the percentage of bad cops isn't all that different from the percentage of bad people in general.

[Ino]

6. Pretty broad categories there.

Define "wielding a weapon." Define "weapon" for that matter. Your quote didn't say "armed criminals". It could have been something like this...

Houston police shot to death a double amputee in a wheelchair who they said was trying to stab an officer with a pen.

Why is being mentally troubled or running away legitimate reasons to be gunned down? From your link...

Kassick is dead, shot twice in the back. (as he lay on his stomach, tazed)

He was unarmed.

Mearkle had given chase after Kassick fled from her attempt to pull him over for having an expired inspection sticker on his car.

Yay cops!

[Igel]

7. It couldn't say "armed criminals."

At best, it could say "armed suspects," but since most weren't suspected of anything that had much evidence behind it even that word is overreaching.

As for "Why is being mentally troubled or running away legitimate reasons to be gunned down?" ... They're not. If they were, they would be separate crimes under the criminal statute with execution by firing squad as licit penalties.

We're not talking nuance here, we're talking entirely different logical categories that form a much broader set of categories that exists to fit the data into. Not the stunted set that many bring to the table and insist be imposed on the data. Even then, that expanded set of categories is still insufficient for adequate description of the range of data, but it's all that (statute and case) law provides for at present. "Legitimate" versus "not culpable", for instance. "Provably criminal" versus "reasonable fear".

[tabasco]

8. Meaningless stats

The only justified police killing occurs when an officer reasonably fears for his own life or the life of others.

All other police killings are murders.