TRACKING POLICE ABUSE: YOUTH JUSTICE COALITION
Larry Aubry
At a press conference last week, articulate and passionate Black and Latino youth denounced unnecessary police use of force in Los Angeles County. They were members of the Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) citing well researched statistics and specific incidents of police misconduct.
On September 2nd, YJC released a report, “Shoot to Kill: Homicides Resulting from Law Enforcement Use of Force Within LA County, 2000-2014” which found 595 deaths were caused by law enforcement use of force during that period. This far exceeds use of force incidents in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco. (Kim McGill, YJC organizer, indicated statistics in the report are from law enforcement agencies themselves.)
The report reveals there have been more killings of LA residents by police since the LAPD consent decree was lifted then there were when it was in place. It documents huge racial, gender and age disparities, highlighting the particular danger young Black and Brown men face when confronted by law enforcement and the disproportionate impacted of race, age, gender and community location of the shooting. And it lists every victim between January 2007 and August 2014 to better remember the person and learn from their tragic experience in an attempt to save lives in the future.
The report raises many unanswered questions and unexplored concerns, including the need to: document deaths by law enforcement agency and division, as well as individual officers’ ranks and units; need to document and examine officer-involved injuries and homicides, as well as illness, injuries and deaths due to negligence occurring while in custody……….and the impact of these deaths on the residents of Los Angeles; track the impact of use of force incidents on officers’ work assignments, mental health, professional, family and community relationships and career advancement; examine the way in which law enforcement responds to incidents involving mentally ill, disabled and/or intoxicated people and explore alternative measures to suppression.
Track the number of incidents when undocumented people are the victims and explore how immigration status impacts police use of force; examine the weaknesses in the ability of local law enforcement departments, civilian review boards, prosecutors and elected officials to adequately supervise and hold accountable law enforcement; investigate impact of increased use of surveillance technology, military tactics and weaponry on law enforcement’s use of force and civilian injuries and deaths; document media investigations and coverage of law enforcement use of force and the nearly total reliance on law enforcement as the source of information in most cases. In YJC’s many conversations and post-shooting forums with law enforcement leaders in LA County they are told police across the county are to “shoot to kill,” sometimes referred to as “shoot to stop.”
YJC and other community members constantly ask why someone who was running away, and not firing or even pointing a gun, or why individuals who possess something other than a gun—such as a stick, knife, screwdriver, etc.—are met with gunfire. The report found law enforcement has a very different burden of proof in its use of deadly use. In arguing self-defense, a civilian, even within their own home, must prove the person(s) they attack poses an immediate threat to their life. By comparison, in using deadly force, law enforcement officers must demonstrate that the person poses a threat to the safety of the officers and/or others in the community. Therefore, even the common shooting in the back of someone running away can be considered a “justifiable homicide” when law enforcement claims “they posed a threat to community safety.”
“Law enforcement officers must be held to ethical standards much higher than those for civilians, especially in dealing with young people trapped in the violent underground economy of the streets, the financially desperate, emotionally/mentally disabled, intoxicated or addicted—all deserve fair treatment and the minimal expectation that police are “at least not as violent as gangsters or drug dealers.”
The report’s policy and program recommendations include: State attorney-general must appoint a special prosecutor—and, if necessary—prosecute officer-involved shootings; U.S. Attorney-General must launch a civil rights investigation of officer-involved shootings, use of force, and charges of misconduct in LA County; state and congressional legislatures must hold hearings on law enforcement “stop-and-frisk”, use of force and engage the communities most impacted in creating and implementing new laws to prevent the use of illegal force and mass criminalization and incarceration of the most discriminated against and vulnerable populations; a county-wide community oversight body and process needed to review officer-involved shootings, accusations of misconduct and community complaints of law enforcement policies regarding use of force; establishment and implementation of new policies to prevent the needless injury and death of residents at the hands of law enforcement, both within custody and on the streets; replace gang injunction ‘safety zones” with “youth empowerment zones” and ensure those areas have real opportunities for employment, education, prevention and intervention.
YJC Statement: “We want to live in a county that does not lead the nation in police shootings. We want a county where ‘to protect and serve’ doesn’t mean to only protect property and serve the rich. We are organizing in the hope that our little brothers and sisters won’t walk through detectors and razor wire to enter school and that we will send more youth to college than prison.
YJC: www.youth4judtice.org
