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October 24, 2004
Why a tiny number of officers have used deadly force much more often than their colleagues
Frequent Fire : why a tiny number of officers have used deadly force much more often than their colleagues
LA Times, October 18, 2004 (free registration required) http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shooting18oct18,1,7310256.story?coll=la-home-headlines
[...] Officers who have shot at suspects three or more times represent less than 1% of the force. But they were involved in 20% of all LAPD shootings since 1985.Little is known about why they pull the trigger so often.[...] The Times discovered the cadre of repeat shooters through a computer analysis of 1,437 officer-involved shootings from 1985 through mid-2004. [...]Experts in police behavior say departments should monitor repeat shooters closely. "The simple fact that an officer is involved in a disproportionate number of shootings raises a red flag," said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina. "The department needs to start taking more notice of these shootings and look for patterns or trends."
The sparse scholarly research on repeat shooters offers some tentative explanations for their behavior. Social scientists believe that some of them are innately aggressive or anxious. Others may have family problems. Still others appear to place themselves in danger through carelessness or poor judgment, leaving no recourse but to shoot. The Times analysis and interviews with frequent shooters suggest another possible factor: that the experience of firing at a suspect for the first time leaves a profound psychological mark, lowering an officer's threshold for shooting.
Posted by Emma at October 24, 2004 07:33 AM
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