California

Report Released on Use of Police Force in State

For the first time, California now has a tally of how often police used force against civilians in 2016.

The state Attorney General’s office released the report using data supplied by 800 law enforcement agencies in California for the year 2016.

This year represents the first year of data collection and reporting, as required now by a new law. Use of force includes incidents that resulted in serious injury or death to either the civilian or the officer, as well as all incidents in which a gun was fired.

You can read the full report here.

According to the report, law enforcement agencies in the state reported 782 use of force incidents in 2016. Of those incidents, 328 involved the firing of a gun.

Out of the 832 civilians involved in those incidents, 530 were injured and 57 died--of the 1729 officers involved, 349 were injured, five officers died.

The reports also stated that 40 percent or 330 civilians involved in use-of-force incidents showed signs of having mental issues and most had signs of drug and alcohol use.

According to the report, 42 percent of those civilians involved in the incidents, were Hispanic, 30 percent were white, 20 percent black. More than 50 percent of the officers involved were white.

But the numbers might not be completely accurate, according to the report.

"While every effort was made to provide access to all law enforcement agencies, not all agencies reported. Additionally, there could be inconsistencies in reporting during the first year as training and outreach efforts are ongoing," the report stated.

NBC 7 reached out to the Attorney General’s office for raw data to determine the numbers for San Diego County but was told those numbers would be forthcoming.

NBC 7 was able to get some local numbers for use of deadly force on the District Attorney's website.

But according to the District Attorney's website, there were 13 deadly officer-involved shootings in the county--three involving San Diego Police, two involving El Cajon Police, and eight involving the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.

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