Report: LAPD shoot blacks, mentally ill disproportionately
Source: Associated Press
Report: LAPD shoot blacks, mentally ill disproportionately
Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press
Updated 5:07 pm, Tuesday, March 1, 2016
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Los Angeles police officers fire at suspects, their targets are disproportionately black or mentally ill, according to the most comprehensive data on the use of force ever compiled by the department and released to the public Tuesday.
Of the 223 people shot at by Los Angeles police between 2011 and 2015, 77 were black, according to the report. That means 35 percent of those shot at by police were black, while blacks make up just 9 percent of the city's population.
Meanwhile the number of mentally ill people shot by police increased from five in 2014 to 14 last year. The 14 mentally ill people represent 37 percent of all the people shot by Los Angeles police in 2015, according to the report, which the police department presented Tuesday to the city's police commission, a civilian oversight panel.
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As for the sharp increase in the number of mentally ill people shot by police last year, Beck said there's no one explanation but that overall, officers had more interactions with the mentally ill as the number of homeless people in the city has increased.
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http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Report-LAPD-shoot-blacks-mentally-ill-6863785.php