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WickedsDesire -> Highest number of fatal police shootings for 12 years (7/25/2017 8:02:38 AM)
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Highest number of fatal police shootings for 12 years
The numbers of fatal police shootings and deaths after police pursuits in England and Wales both rose sharply in the last year, the latest figures show.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said there were six fatal police shootings between April 2016 to March 2017, up from three in 2015/16.
The number of deaths in police road traffic incidents rose by 11 to 32 - the biggest total in eight years.
The six shootings included that of Westminster attacker Khalid Masood.
It is the highest number in 12 years.
Twenty-eight of the road traffic deaths were related to police pursuits of vehicles.
Since the IPCC was set up in 2004, there have never been more than a handful of fatal police shootings in a year, so the fact there have been six is unlikely to raise alarm bells.
And, as the watchdog points out, the number has to be set in context: there were more than 14,700 police firearms operations during the same 12-month period - the vast majority pass off without a shot being fired, let alone anyone dying.
However, the sharp rise in pursuit-related deaths - after a concerted effort by police and the IPCC to reduce the number of such casualties - will prompt searching questions. Of the 28 who died, 18 were either passengers in the suspect vehicle or other road users.
Does the rise simply reflect an upsurge in criminal activity? Is it because suspects have become increasingly reckless? Or have police standards on the roads slipped?
The IPCC and the National Police Chiefs' Council will have to get to the bottom of it quickly.
Maybe American criminals are more dangerous or armed to the teeth with guns, toy guns, or plastic cars toys, or dressed in their threatening pyjamas, or looking a bit niggerly.
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