After threatening to sue, the Chicago Tribune has obtained data from the city’s police department that tracks every time an officer has opened fire in the city over the past six years. The vast majority of those hit were black men or boys.
There were 435 police shootings from 2010 through 2015, in which officers killed 92 people and wounded 170 others. In all, officers fired 2,623 bullets.
The newspaper’s findings ( http://trib.in/2bkSzNO ) show about four out of every five people shot were African-American males. It found that about half of the officers involved were African-American or Hispanic and most of them had years of experience and were not rookies.
The review also said the number of police shootings has declined over the period, from more than 100 in 2011 to 44 last year.
The city is making major changes to the department and various oversight bodies after the uproar over a 2014 shooting in which a white officer fired 16 bullets into a black teenager. Video of that fatal shooting, which was released upon a judge’s order in November, contradicted officers’ accounts that the teen lunged at them threateningly with a knife. The officer who fired those shots has been charged with first-degree murder.
Despite heightened scrutiny of the department and promises from the city of more transparency, the Tribune said it took seven months of arguing and the threat of a lawsuit to prod the city to release the data.
Most of the police shootings took place in South and West Side neighborhoods beset by gang violence and poverty. At least one of every five shootings involved plainclothes tactical officers charged with taking on gangs, the newspaper found.
Police union President Dean Angelo Sr. defended the department’s record against accusations of racial bias.
“When you look at the map, 80 percent of narcotics arrests, gun arrests and gang arrests happen in these poor areas,” he told the newspaper. “Where you’ve got dope, you’ve got guns. It’s not about ethnicity — it’s about criminal involvement.”
He also said officers face split-second decisions about when to use lethal force to protect themselves.
But community activist Charles Jenkins told the Tribune he believes the race of those shot influences the investigations into the shootings.
“It’s easier to believe, because they’re black, that an officer was in fear of their life and get(s) off,” he said.
(AP)
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7 Responses
So why is Rahm Emanuel still allowed to be the Mayor? Oh right, he’s a Liberal Democrat, so he’s one of them. No harm. Everything is fine. The blacks are cool with him.
Now if the Mayor was an evil white racist Republican……………..
Police union President Dean Angelo Sr. is correct. For this type of data you have to include the number of violent crimes committed by these minorities and by whites.
One such study showed that when this is taken into account there is no discrimination when it comes to police shootings.
In almost half of the shootings the police apparently missed their target. If most of the crime is Black on
black crime in Black neighborhoods one would certainly expect that most of those shot by police would be Black. If it were otherwise there would be something wrong.
How about the truth seeking media let us know who the majority of domestic shootings were committed by???
How many blacks were shot by blacks during the same time period?
What is the population difference between blacks and whites in Chicago?
How many times was there an act of violence before the police arrived?
Valid questions that the lame stream media doesn’t ask
“It’s not about ethnicity — it’s about criminal involvement.”
Until the media remembers this and stops deluding the public that this is a racial issue, we will watch the administration and the media create racial divide. This nonsense must stop.
to the little i know
well said. 100% true. this all media distortions. under the current political climate i would never be a cop. i dont understand why anyone would.