{"id":35432,"date":"2022-09-03T11:03:28","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T11:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/03\/california-police-officers-have-killed-nearly-1000-people-in-6-years\/"},"modified":"2022-09-03T11:03:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T11:03:28","slug":"california-police-officers-have-killed-nearly-1000-people-in-6-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/03\/california-police-officers-have-killed-nearly-1000-people-in-6-years\/","title":{"rendered":"California police officers have killed nearly 1,000 people in 6 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<p>Officers in California have killed nearly 1,000 people in six years, according to a Chronicle review of state Department of Justice data that reveals a picture of where violent police encounters occur in the state, and to whom.<\/p>\n<p>But the statistics do not yet offer conclusive results for <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/justice\/2020\/08\/california-police-reform-bills\/\" rel=\"noopener\">recent legislative attempts<\/a> to curtail police violence by toughening the rules of engagement for officers, requiring deescalation training and bringing in outside investigators when unarmed civilians are killed.<\/p>\n<div id=\"paywall\">\n    <!-- hearst\/article\/content\/embed.tpl --><\/p>\n<section class=\"article--content-embed fullwidth\">\n                        <iframe title=\"Police use-of-force incidents in California\" aria-label=\"Grouped Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-F9GT3\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"500\" width=\"100%\" data-progressive=\"true\" data-component=\"misc-iframe\" data-url=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/F9GT3\/1\/\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- e hearst\/article\/content\/embed.tpl --><\/p>\n<p>In <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/data-openjustice.doj.ca.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-08\/USE%20OF%20FORCE%202021.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">2021<\/a>, California\u2019s law enforcement agencies recorded 628 use-of-force incidents resulting in 233 people shot and 149 killed.<\/p>\n<p>These figures represent declines from <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/data-openjustice.doj.ca.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-08\/USE%20OF%20FORCE%202020.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">2020<\/a>, when 172 police killings matched a six-year high and came amid <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/Crowds-gather-in-Oakland-San-Francisco-other-15309638.php\" rel=\"noopener\">clashes between riot officers and racial justice marchers<\/a> that prompted <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/eastbay\/article\/Bay-Area-journalist-sues-Oakland-Police-over-tear-16809842.php\" rel=\"noopener\">police brutality lawsuits<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/California-moves-toward-police-reform-but-15610535.php\" rel=\"noopener\">bills to limit<\/a> the use of less-lethal artillery like <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Newsom-advisers-urge-changes-in-policing-at-15645466.php\" rel=\"noopener\">rubber bullets and tear gas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that last year saw 233 people shot instead of 238 the year before wasn\u2019t notable enough to some use-of-force authorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat it tells me is, we\u2019re still shooting a lot of civilians,\u201d said Roger Clark, who spent 27 years at the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department, where he investigated use-of-force incidents and trained deputies on the department\u2019s policy.<\/p>\n<p>For the sixth straight year, Los Angeles County was the setting for the largest number (172) and highest rate (27.4 incidents per 100,000 residents) of use-of-force incidents in the state last year.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to use-of-force rates calculated by population, Los Angeles County was followed distantly by San Bernardino (11.3 incidents per 100,000 residents), San Diego (7.2), Riverside (6.1) and Orange (5.7) counties. No Bay Area county was in the top five, though Alameda County made the top six.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- Missed: ad --><\/p>\n<p>The 10 agencies with the most use-of-force incidents last year were the Los Angeles County Sheriff&#8217;s Department (60 incidents), Los Angeles Police Department (60), San Bernardino County Sheriff\u2019s Department (39), California Highway Patrol (28), San Diego County Sheriff\u2019s Department (27), San Bernardino Police Department (20), Bakersfield Police Department (18), Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office (16), and Riverside and Sacramento police departments (15 each).<\/p>\n<p>In the Bay Area, the agencies that reported the most violent encounters with civilians were the Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office (16), San Francisco Police Department (12), San Jose Police Department (11), Antioch Police Department (seven), while the police departments of Oakland, Napa and Vacaville tied for fifth place with five incidents each.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- hearst\/article\/content\/embed.tpl --><\/p>\n<section class=\"article--content-embed fullwidth\">\n                        <iframe title=\"Bay Area agencies with the most use-of-force incidents\" aria-label=\"Interactive line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-CHkdt\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"450\" width=\"100%\" data-progressive=\"true\" data-component=\"misc-iframe\" data-url=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/CHkdt\/2\/\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- e hearst\/article\/content\/embed.tpl --><\/p>\n<p>In Alameda County, which had a rate of 5.1 use-of-force incidents per 100,000 residents, 11 of the 32 incidents occurred after calls for service, 10 while officers were responding to crimes in progress or investigating suspicious circumstances, and seven during in-custody events.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- hearst\/article\/content\/embed.tpl --><\/p>\n<section class=\"article--content-embed fullwidth\">\n                        <iframe title=\"Police use-of-force incidents, per 100,000 residents in each county, in 2021\" aria-label=\"Bar Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-h757b\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"447\" width=\"100%\" data-progressive=\"true\" data-component=\"misc-iframe\" data-url=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/h757b\/2\/\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- e hearst\/article\/content\/embed.tpl --><\/p>\n<p>The latest statewide use-of-force report also showed that troubling disparities have yet to subside despite increased awareness and efforts to confront them.<\/p>\n<p>Latino and Black Californians were again vastly overrepresented in use-of-force incidents last year. Latinos make up 40.2% of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/quickfacts\/fact\/table\/CA\/PST045221\" rel=\"noopener\">state population<\/a> and were on the receiving end of 50.6% of police force; African-Americans represent 6.5% of the population but 16.7% of police force incidents.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, white cops involved in violent encounters were slightly overrepresented and Latino and Black cops were slightly underrepresented.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- Missed: ad --><\/p>\n<p>Of the 1,462 officers involved in violent confrontations, not all of whom reported using force, 84% escaped injury.<\/p>\n<p>In all, officers from California\u2019s largest to smallest policing agencies killed 944 people from <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/data-openjustice.doj.ca.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-08\/ursus16.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">2016<\/a> through 2021, The Chronicle\u2019s analysis found. Within those years, 2020 tied with <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/data-openjustice.doj.ca.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2022-08\/ursus17.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\">2017<\/a> for the most people killed by police around the state with 172.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if we can draw major conclusions on the numbers,\u201d state Assembly Member Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, who\u2019s pushed use-of-force reforms, said of 2020\u2019s spike in police killings.<\/p>\n<p>If 2020 was marked by pandemic lockdowns and racial justice protests, it was also the year when a landmark law was supposed to reduce the number of fatal police encounters in California.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billVersionsCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB392&amp;cversion=20190AB39299INT\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Bill 392<\/a> from <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/sacramento\/content\/lessons-and-legacy\/27884060\/\" rel=\"noopener\">then-Assembly Member<\/a> Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, and McCarty, tightened the definition of an imminent threat that an officer must claim to justify using deadly force. The bill, however, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsreview.com\/sacramento\/content\/second-guessed-amendments\/28231836\/\" rel=\"noopener\">still allows an officer\u2019s perception<\/a> \u2014 and not the objective facts on the ground \u2014 to determine whether a threat existed to the officer or the public.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, officers perceived the civilians they used force against to be armed 58% of the time; the civilians were confirmed to be armed in 52% of cases, amounting to a 6-percentage-point differential in perception vs. reality. In previous years, the inaccuracy gap between an officer thinking a subject was armed and a subject being proven to be armed ranged between 12% in 2020 and 2018 to 15.5% in 2016.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"article--content-inline\">\n<aside class=\"zone\"><!-- src\/business\/widgets\/hearst\/collection\/widget.tpl --><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- e src\/business\/widgets\/hearst\/collection\/widget.tpl --><\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Another piece of reform legislation intended to make a difference was Assembly Bill 1506 from McCarty. Spurred by the May 2020 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent national uprising, the bill was intended to restore faith in the criminal legal system by empowering the California Department of Justice to investigate all police killings of unarmed civilians and a limited number of other deadly encounters.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- Missed: ad --><\/p>\n<p>Since the law took effect in July 2021, the state Justice Department that Attorney General Rob Bonta commands has <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/oag.ca.gov\/ois-incidents\/current-cases\" rel=\"noopener\">opened<\/a> 23 investigations into fatal police encounters around the state and closed none of them.<\/p>\n<p>McCarty said the state will gain a better understanding of how his law is performing once these reviews start coming out. Whether the attorney general finds that officers acted appropriately or not, McCarty said, \u201cWe\u2019ll just live by what the conclusions are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AB1506 was <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/justice\/2020\/07\/california-police-investigation-officers-reform\/\" rel=\"noopener\">the Sacramento lawmaker\u2019s third attempt<\/a> to get such a bill passed through the Legislature, a feat that was aided by law enforcement\u2019s treatment of protesters, videos of which spurred outrage on social media. But, noting the circumstances of Floyd\u2019s death, choking under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, McCarty said he plans to introduce legislation that would expand the attorney general\u2019s scope of authority to all officer killings and shootings, whether the subjects were armed or not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, George Floyd was killed by an officer but he wasn\u2019t killed by a firearm,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cThe irony is that death would not be evaluated based upon my law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James Burch, policy director at the Anti Police-Terror Project, said he was hopeful that another piece of legislation would decrease police violence in California. Senate Bill 2, authored by state Sens. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, and Toni G. Atkins, D-San Diego, passed last September and intends to root out problem officers after it takes effect in January. It creates a decertification process for officers after serious criminal convictions or termination due to misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- Missed: ad --><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to imagine that will have some impact on the amount of officers who are doing the most dirt in the state of California,\u201d Burch said.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Williams, associate professor of justice studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey, said SB2 is the kind of legislation that can convince officers that they\u2019ll be held accountable if they overstep.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe psychological point of view, from the officer standpoint, is very, very important,\u201d Williams said. \u201cBecause if I\u2019m an officer on the beat, and I know that there\u2019s no real accountability coming around, I have no incentive to change my behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>            <em><\/p>\n<p>Raheem Hosseini and Joshua Sharpe are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/mailto:raheem.hosseini@sfchronicle.com\" rel=\"noopener\">raheem.hosseini@sfchronicle.com<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/mailto:joshua.sharpe@sfchronicle.com\" rel=\"noopener\">joshua.sharpe@sfchronicle.com<\/a> Twitter: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/raheemfh\" rel=\"noopener\">@raheemfh<\/a>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuawsharpe\" rel=\"noopener\">@joshuawsharpe<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<section id=\"articleBottom\" class=\"article--content-zone bottom\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/California-police-violence-17416510.php\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Officers in California have killed nearly 1,000 people in six years, according to a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}