Police Related Deaths In The United States

Franklin Zimring compiles data from federal records, crowdsourced research, and investigative journalism to provide a comprehensive, fact-based picture of how, when, where, and why police use deadly force. He offers prescriptions for how federal, state, and local governments could reduce killings at minimum cost without risking officers’ lives.

In recent months, there has been an increase in the discussions about killings by law enforcement officials. Though this is an occurrence world-wide, much attention has been placed on the United States of America, due to the alarming instances of unlawful police killings. The Washington Post highlighted that more individuals have been shot and killed by police officers since the start of 2016 that last year this time, despite the increased use of body cameras.

In 2015, The Washington Post launched an unprecedented effort to account for every fatal shooting by an officer of the law. Their study has motivated the FBI to action, and changed the way we think of those who serve and protect. After a police officer shot and killed a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, the media began to pay greater attention to deadly interactions between black men and the law. But when reporters tried to get to the bottom of some basic questions—how often do police shoot people? Who are the victims? Are officers ever charged with crimes?—they came up blank. Police departments were not required to report these statistics to the FBI. The Washington Post set out to track every fatal shooting by an on-duty officer in 2015. Its database chronicled the shootings in real time, using news reports and other public sources. It compiled a trove of data, from the race of the person killed, whether the person was armed when killed, to whether the person was purported to have threatened the officer prior to being killed. The results found by the Post are shocking and haunting, from the sheer breadth of shootings by police in the U.S. to the stories of those killed. And its call to reform is being heeded. This groundbreaking book will radically alter how you view confrontation and accountability within the ranks, and offer a new perspective going forward.

Police Related Deaths in the United States examines how police related deaths in the US occur; how investigations are conducted into these deaths; and why such deaths and the investigatory processes into them provoke such concern in the wider American society. The book considers such deaths as being the result of structural and systemic factors in policing, the criminal justice system, and broader socio-political and socio-legal landscapes in the U.S.. It argues that an increasingly aggressive police mindset allied with relatively toothless regulatory frameworks effectively lead to police being enabled by the criminal justice system to use lethal force with relative impunity. The book considers the disproportionate number of deaths in marginalized communities, for example: people of color, people who are mentally unwell, and LGBTQ people. Each chapter in the book begins with a case study of a specific police related death and places issues within that case in the wider context of policing in the US. David Baker argues that the effects of these deaths go beyond merely policing and criminal justice, and corrodes the core fabric of American society.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports Section selected and analyzed 51 incidents of police officer killings in order to evaluate the psychology of the offender, the behavior of the police officer, and circumstances in which the police officer lost his or her life. The study was conducted over a 3-year period; the 51 incidents resulted in the death of 54 police officers and involved 50 offenders. Results demonstrated that, while no single offender profile could be established, most killers of police officers had been diagnosed as having some type of personality disorder. Behavioral descriptors of victims were frequently similar in that they were good-natured and more conservative than their fellow officers in the use of physical force. The incidents themselves revealed that killings were often facilitated by some type of procedural miscue (e.g., improper approach to a vehicle). Type of assignment, circumstances at the scene of an encounter, weapons involved, and the environment in which events occurred all played a role in the preponderance of police officer deaths in the South. The report presents extensive information on the victims, offenders, and incidents studied. It identifies personality types of offenders, provides guidance on how individuals of a given personality type interact with authority figures, and offers approaches to interrogation. The report also points out specific areas where law enforcement training and procedures may be improved. Appendixes contain the study methodology and a description of personality types.

Each year, too many law enforcement officers die in the line of duty and too many people are killed by the police. Yet, can any of these deaths be avoided? To answer this we must investigate the nature and causes of these deaths in an unbiased and objective manner to highlight and expose weaknesses in policy that can be amended through more rigorou

While police brutality has been a constant issue here in the United States, it has received considerably more attention during the past year. Even more disturbing, it is particularly noticeable among the African American community. Some of the biggest news-stories today involve attacks on black men, women, and children by white police officers. Most recently, six police officers were indicted for the death of Baltimore native Freddie Gray while he was in police custody for allegedly possessing an illegal switchblade knife. This news, of course, came after several days of both violent and peaceful protests held in Baltimore and other cities around the United States. Because of all these recent events, the country seems more divided than ever on how we view our law enforcement. On one hand, there are many who still support them whole-heartedly. On the other hand, more people noticing the rise in violent police-related deaths and want police officers to be held accountable.

After a series of incidents in which police officers in Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, killed four unarmed African Americans--Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and Michael Brown--resulting in widespread civic unrest and violent protests, the Department of Justice launched investigations into each incident, including in-depth probes into the police departments behind them. This is the complete and unexpurgated text of their findings.

While police brutality has been a constant issue here in the United States, it has received considerably more attention during the past year. Even more disturbing, it is particularly noticeable among the African American community. Some of the biggest news-stories today involve attacks on black men, women, and children by white police officers. Most recently, six police officers were indicted for the death of Baltimore native Freddie Gray while he was in police custody for allegedly possessing an illegal switchblade knife. This news, of course, came after several days of both violent and peaceful protests held in Baltimore and other cities around the United States. Because of all these recent events, the country seems more divided than ever on how we view our law enforcement. On one hand, there are many who still support them whole-heartedly. On the other hand, more people noticing the rise in violent police-related deaths and want police officers to be held accountable.

The shooting of Michael Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a northern suburb of St. Louis. Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer, after robbing a convenience store. In response to the shooting the U.S. Department of Justice conducted two investigations into the circumstances of Brown's murder and the policing practices of the Ferguson Police Department. This e-book presents all the findings and established facts of these investigations; including the misconduct against the citizens by the Ferguson Police, discrimination against African-Americans and conclusions regarding the shooting incident.