By Dr. John E. Warren – Publisher
Last week, the San Diego County District Attorney issued a report on Police Involved Shootings in San Diego County during the last 20 years. The results show that between 1993 and 2012, 54 percent of the 358 shootings by police including the County Sheriff resulted in fatalities. This amounts to approximately 200 of the 348 people were killed in a confrontation with law enforcement. Ten percent of the incidents ended with an officer injured or killed.
The findings revealed that 37 percent of the people shot were white; 36 percent of the people shot were of Hispanic origin; 19 percent were of African American origin and 4 percent were of Asian or Filipino background. While on the surface the findings of the report clearly shows more white and Hispanic people being shot than African Americans and Asians, the numbers should be looked in proportion to the population size of the groups from which the victims come. For example San Diego has a larger percentage of Whites and Hispanics than African Americans which make up less than 6 percent of the population. 72 percent of the officers involved in these shootings were white where 41 percent of the victims were non white. This statistic is in sharp contrast to the non-white officer shootings involving white subjects, where the shootings were 6 percent.
While the report indicated that 115 subjects had a handgun, officials said sixty-six suspects had a knife or a machete. But what is really interesting about these particular numbers is the fact that of the 29 people shot in which no weapon was present, 22 were the result of “furtive” movement by the person, and five of these were called accidental discharges by officers. Many in the African American community will remember that it was called an “accidental discharge” when a police officer shot and killed Billy Venerable in the back of the head while he laid hog tied, face down on an Encanto neighborhood street more than a decade ago with a San Diego police officer kneeling on his back, with the gun to his head.
It is interesting that according to the report, the bulk of the officer involved shootings in the last two decades involved no pursuit of the suspect and that in 80 percent of the shootings, officers involved did not attempt to use non lethal force. Most of the shootings occurred within city limits and involved officers with the San Diego Police Department. The majority stemmed from traffic stops or domestic violence calls. and half the shootings happened minutes after officers arrived on the scene, according to San Diego Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman. The report also stated that 44 percent of the persons shot were either on parole or probation at the time. Only two officers have been prosecuted for their roles in shootings, both resulted in jurors acquitting the officers.
The report also laid out the process of review after an officer involved shooting. The preparation and release of this report is viewed as a major step by District Attorney Dumanis in dealing with an issue, which has become even more important, in view of recent deaths at the hands of police officers around the country.
