When Police Officers Kill Their Peers

by Colin Asher · 2010-07-02 07:00:00 UTC
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In 2008 and 2009, New York City's police force experienced a double set of tragedies — the deaths of two black police officers who were shot and killed by their colleagues. Both victims were off-duty at the time, and their deaths caused significant controversy. In response, Governor David Paterson convened a task force to look into the issue of officer-on-officer shootings, which recently released a report (in conjunction with the Kennedy School of Government) entitled “Reducing Inherent Danger” — the findings of which are fascinating.

Nationwide, there have been 26 fatal officer-on-officer shootings since 1981. But that's not all. According to the report, fatal conflicts between officers are only “the tip of the iceberg.”

“Confrontations occur every day, and while most are defused without injury, each contains the seed of a tragedy,” the report states.

Perhaps predictably, it turns out that race is a significant factor in these confrontations. Out of the 14 officers who've been killed in officer-on-officer shootings during the last 15 years, 10 were racial minorities.

What's key to note is that among on-duty shootings, race plays no role. But when shootings of off-duty officers by on-duty officers are considered, race becomes an overwhelming factor.

In fact, 1982 was the last year that a white off-duty officer was shot and killed by an on-duty officer. Since then, though, nine off-duty officers of color have been shot and killed.

The task force's report claims to be the first of its kind ever conducted, and so there is no real way to evaluate whether 26 deaths in 29 years nationwide is relatively high or low. Either way, it's clearly an issue deserving of attention.

The report includes recommendations for lowering the chances of these kinds of tragedies. Chief among them, for example, is establishing standard ways that off-duty officers can identify themselves when they are confronted by on-duty officers. Likewise, the report urges the creation of additional protocols for how such officers should behave when confronted. To reduce the role that race plays in these shootings, the paper recommends that “police training on issues of race and diversity be expanded to include a focus on diversity within police agencies.”

Neither recommendation is especially bold, but you never know. Sometimes the best solutions are the simple ones.

Photo Credit: phoosh

Colin Asher is a former social worker and award-winning freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, among many others.
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