Federal review says Philadelphia police need new policies to govern shootings

[damnedifIknow]

The Philadelphia police force needs to revamp the way its officers use force in the wake of hundreds of police shootings in recent years, the Justice Department said in a new report that found “an undercurrent of significant strife between the community” and the police there.

This report looked at the number of times Philadelphia police officers shot someone between 2007 and 2013, finding nearly 400 such incidents over that seven-year span. Fifty-nine unarmed people were fatally shot over this period, and half of the unarmed people were shot because the officer saw something (like a cellphone) or some action (like a person pulling at the waist of their pants) and misidentified it as a threat, the report states.

However, investigators say it is impossible to put this number into context, because there is no reliable national data on officer-involved shootings. “Therefore, we cannot say whether this number is high or low,” the report states."


*The Justice Department found problems with the way police shootings are investigated, and in the report it urges the department to create a unit charged with looking into every time an officer uses deadly force. A board including an officer who outranks the officer involved in the shooting, an officer on their level and a member of the public should be able to call witnesses and ask questions before voting on a decision, the report states."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/03/23/federal-review-says-philadelphia-police-need-new-policies-to-govern-shootings-by-officers/

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. It might be simpler for DOJ just to tell us which ones don't need major reforms.