New York – The fatal shooting of an unarmed man by undercover officers again places New York police under unwelcome scrutiny. Critics say it’s evidence of an unaccountable, sometimes trigger-happy force, while defenders – backed by statistics – insist the NYPD is among the best-trained, most restrained departments in the nation.
The attention, good and bad, is unavoidable. With more than 37,000 uniformed officers, the NYPD is by far the country’s largest, highest-profile police force. Its sometimes chilling abuses become national news, yet its officers killed fewer people last year – nine – than some police departments in far smaller cities.
“There’s always a spotlight on the NYPD,” said Maki Haberfeld, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor who specializes in police training. “But in terms of actual numbers of shootings, and their use of force, there’s no doubt in my mind they are one of the best departments in the country.”
Many questions remain unanswered regarding the latest incident – a man killed early on his wedding day by police gunfire as he left his bachelor party at a Queens strip club. Police officials say five officers fired a 50-bullet barrage at a car with three black men inside after it struck an undercover officer and an unmarked NYPD minivan. Sean Bell, 23, was killed.
The New York Civil Liberties Union, a frequent skeptic of the NYPD’s ability to police itself, has called for an independent investigation of the shooting by the state attorney general’s office.
NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman noted that citizen complaints filed with a review board about alleged NPYD abuses had increased by 60 percent from 2001 to 2005.
“The shooting has to be looked at in that context,” she said. “This is a time when the city should try to learn what went wrong – not be defensive, but try to identify problems and solutions.”
Yet statistics provided by the NYPD, and gathered by The Associated Press from other police departments, show the New York force in a relatively positive light.
While New York officers fatally shot 54 people in 1973 and 23 in 1996, last year the toll was nine people. According to the NYPD, that was a rate of 0.25 killings per 1,000 officers, far lower than in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and other major cities.
