Thomas Lucente: Killer cops a growing problem

One thousand thirty-nine.

That is the number of verified homicides committed by police officers in the United States since Jan. 1. If you go back to May 1, 2013, the number is 1,796. The number is probably a little higher. Our military does not kill that many people in a year in nations in which it is an occupying force. There would be an international outcry if soldiers killed that many civilians in Afghanistan in a year.

In Canon City, Colorado, on Thursday, police shot 28-year-old Brandon Atencio in the chest (http://j.mp/Atencio). He died Friday. He was unarmed but, according to police, made “threatening gestures.”

On Wednesday, in Wildomar, California, police shot to death a man after a brief chase when they said he started to back his car up toward them (http://j.mp/Wildomar). I supposed stepping aside was not an option.

Also on Wednesday, in Sanford, North Carolina, officers trying to serve a warrant shot and killed 24-year-old Travis Faison (http://j.mp/Faison2). Details of the shooting have been withheld from the American people.

Every day, police officers in this country kill people.

Let’s consider another number: 27. That is the number of police officers the FBI says were killed by felonious acts in the United States in 2013. In a report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 100 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty in 2013, which includes all deaths regardless of cause. This was the fewest number since 1944. The report said 31 officers died from gun-related incidents, the fewest since 1887.

Now let’s look at another statistic.

Violent crime in the United States is about half what it was in 1990.

So, to recap, homicides by police officers are at historic high levels. In fact, 2013 marked a two-decade high of killing by police according to FBI data, which is unreliable given that many agencies do not report, and 2014 is probably even higher given the data collected so far. Meanwhile, violent crime in the United States is the lowest it’s been in two decades, and the killing of cops is the lowest it has been in decades.

Clearly, there is a problem.

This is not an anti-cop screed, though police officers will take it that way. This is an anti-government essay.

What is scandalous about this is that the government keeps the people in the dark about the actual scope of the problem. The FBI statistics are significantly underreported because it is voluntary. Some of the nation’s largest police departments, such as New York City, do not report their numbers to the FBI.

It is a national disgrace that there is no reliable and uniform collection of data concerning the use of lethal force by police departments. The number I reported above comes from an independent source at http://killedbypolice.net. The website has no frills and no commentary. It is just a spreadsheet of police shootings with links to news reports for every single one.

Since 2010, at least seven U.S. police departments have been the subjects of federal reviews in the wake of fatal police shootings.

One of those departments was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In April, Officer Jeremy Dear shot a 19-year-old woman to death. All three shots were fired in a downward trajectory. Unfortunately, Dear’s body camera failed to capture the incident. Coincidentally, this was the third time Dear was accused of excessive use of force and the third time his body camera failed.

Since 2009, according to USA Today, Albuquerque officers have been involved in nearly 50 shootings, with at least 32 resulting in death, including several mentally ill suspects. Last month, the city reached an agreement with the Justice Department to change its lethal force policy.

What the numbers show is that our police departments are growing out of control.

The solution rests on body cameras, independent investigations and, most importantly, a disciplinary regime that offers serious consequences for all misconduct. Unfortunately, police unions will fight that to the detriment of public safety.

It’s another unfortunate side effect from the creation of government-sector unions.