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A Third Of California's Police-Involved Killings In 2016 Happened In L.A. County
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
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California's attorney general released a report Thursday outlining use of force by police in California in 2016—among its findings was that, of the 157 fatal encounters with police in the state, 55 of them involved police in L.A. County. This is the first time California has released public information on statewide statistics showing use of force by police, according to the L.A. Times.
The report also describes a total of 782 incidents that either involved use of force that led to bodily injury or death of a civilian or officer, or the discharging of a weapon. Discharge of a firearm is taken into account regardless of if it resulted in an injury. Of these 782 incidents, 210 of them occurred in L.A. County.
Few states collect official data regarding police use of force, according to the Associated Press. Texas, Colorado, and Connecticut require tracking and/or reporting of all uses of force or officer-caused injury or death. The Washington Post has a github data set with every civilian killed by a police officer in the line of duty in 2015 and 2016. The L.A. Times has its own report where it tracks police killings in L.A. County, and their 2016 data included almost all of the 55 deaths in Attorney General Xavier Becerra's report.
The data comes from former Attorney General Kamala Harris' implementation of new law enforcement reporting requirements back in 2015. In a statement regarding last year's data, Becerra said, "[i]n California, we strive to improve public trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they are sworn to protect by opening lines of communication," adding how "a necessary part of the discussion is knowing the facts and having the data to inform the creation of effective plans to advance sound criminal justice policies."
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