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Critiquing the Police Shooting Report
June 10th, 2008

The New York Police Department responded to a RAND Corporation study of police shootings by announcing it would purchase 520 Tasers, guns that use electric shocks to disable a suspect. The department commissioned the study of 455 incidents of police firing guns over a three year period after the Sean Bell shooting - although it did not consider the Bell case at all. The report presents mostly positive reviews of police procedures. (Read the full RAND report.)

But critics on both sides say the $350,000 study was a waste of money.

The New York Civil Liberties Union says the “report that parrots the NYPD’s perspective without seeking public input” and warned that Tasers are dangerous - and potentially lethal - weapons too. In an article in the New York Times, Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union added that the report also failed to look at issues of race and “why blacks and Latinos seem to be such a target for police shootings.”

On the other side, the New York Post argues that “New York already has one of the most restrained large-city police forces in America” and that urging officers to use Tasers will only make their jobs more dangerous.

By Mark Berkey-Gerard on June 10, 2008, 8:41 am
In category: Crime
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One Response to “Critiquing the Police Shooting Report”

  1. Critiquing the Police Shooting Report | Taser Times Says:
    June 15th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    [...] reviews of police procedures. (Read the full RAND report.) But critics on both sides say theoriginal article addthis_url = [...]

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