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"The statistics on such things are notoriously incomplete, depending upon individual law enforcement agencies to report the numbers. And the numbers, of course, don’t reveal the circumstances of the death; whether a cop fired out of self-defense or to save the life of an innocent, or whether he acted with excessive force without adequate justification."
It's not a pretty picture judging off of statistics alone, but the article makes a good point; in rural states a killing by a cop is more likely to be noticed and thus reported. The Interior West tends to be a place where people notice and report things more than in highly urbanized locales and statistics relating to crime and cop-killings are based off of reportings. If people in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the western states would just mind their own business and stop reporting these things the statistics would drop dramatically. But is that that society we want to live in? I bet not...
This might be a problem that our region needs to address, I don't deny that. But I have a feeling it's a problem that impacts the entire nation and NM is being singled out as an example. Corporate media and its "findings" don't necessarily portray the situation as it really is.
This might be a problem that our region needs to address, I don't deny that. But I have a feeling it's a problem that impacts the entire nation and NM is being singled out as an example. Corporate media and its "findings" don't necessarily portray the situation as it really is.
This. Phoenix has as many officer involved shootings per capita as ABQ and they don't make national news.
This was brought up a month and half ago in this article as well: Killings by cops are much more common in Western states The death-by-cop rate in NM puts the rest of the nation to shame.
I did find a mistake in that article. They took a rate of '4 per 100,000' rate calculated by KRQE, but that was over 4 years so the true rate would be 1/4 that. The author concluded the rate at APD was 30 times the national average, it would be closer to 7-8 base on those numbers.
Littlekw, interesting article, thanks for the link. That article does say that NM has the highest rate of deaths by police shooting in the country, although I understand that these statistics aren't perfect. I am skeptical that rates are higher in the West because they're reported more. You'd think that almost every police department is going to have to keep a record of when they shoot someone. I'm more inclined to believe the reasons for higher police shootings that are suggested in the article: higher mental illness rates, poverty, and higher gun ownership rates.
Littlekw, interesting article, thanks for the link. That article does say that NM has the highest rate of deaths by police shooting in the country, although I understand that these statistics aren't perfect. I am skeptical that rates are higher in the West because they're reported more. You'd think that almost every police department is going to have to keep a record of when they shoot someone. I'm more inclined to believe the reasons for higher police shootings that are suggested in the article: higher mental illness rates, poverty, and higher gun ownership rates.
"But the “legal intervention” deaths — an average of 406 per year from 1999 to 20113 — are not useful on their own since many police homicides are misclassified simply because the coroner’s report does not mention police involvement" Nobody Knows How Many Americans The Police Kill Each Year | FiveThirtyEight
On the PBS News Hour tonight they did a story on the APD shootings and the recent national press they have garnered. I thought it was reasonable and balanced story that was not about shaming the city and the officers, but showing many points of view and the steps being taken to address problems.
Littlekw, interesting article, thanks for the link. That article does say that NM has the highest rate of deaths by police shooting in the country, although I understand that these statistics aren't perfect. I am skeptical that rates are higher in the West because they're reported more. You'd think that almost every police department is going to have to keep a record of when they shoot someone. I'm more inclined to believe the reasons for higher police shootings that are suggested in the article: higher mental illness rates, poverty, and higher gun ownership rates.
It's interesting how few statistics there are on the subject of lethal force by police in the western states. Wyoming isn't even included in the article I referenced because they "suppress" the data in Wyoming. So the fact that there aren't any death-by-cop statistics from Wyoming must mean it's not an issue, right? I doubt it... If there was hard data on the use of lethal force in WY we might be surprised.
The debate on lethal force is a good one, I'm just sorry to see Albuquerque being singled out in the media. It's an issue all across the country and it's a shame to see some of the best parts of America being portrayed as terrifying places. Albuquerque is less than perfect. So is everywhere else in the world, it doesn't mean it's a terrible place to live. Maybe all of this negative press on APD will result in a change in policy that many American cities could use. Silver lining, Albuquerque, it's a good opportunity for y'all to lead the way in positive police reforms across the country.
On the PBS News Hour tonight they did a story on the APD shootings and the recent national press they have garnered. I thought it was reasonable and balanced story that was not about shaming the city and the officers, but showing many points of view and the steps being taken to address problems.
Good article. Thanks for posting. I prefer to watch it this way, I'm not always my sharpest watching it on TV.
I don't recall this "mini-trial" before a judge being used rather than a grand jury. Waiting to see how it really works out:
Quote:
KATHLEEN MCCLEERY: It will months at least before the Boyd case goes to trial. Unlike Ferguson, prosecutors chose not to proceed with a grand jury, opting first for a mini-trial before a judge.
KARI BRANDENBURG: We choose to go by way of preliminary hearing, because we feel it’s more transparent, and everybody’s got the information, and they’re not asking questions, well, why did this happen, was that presented, why didn’t you present this? It’s all out in the open.
The judge has broad discretion, first-degree, second-degree, voluntary manslaughter. She could also do involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault.
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