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Benjamin Crump: Times' "Why Cops Shoot" series shows we need police reform because too many people are dying

 
Rodney Mitchell and his son Channing, 4, in 2011.
Rodney Mitchell and his son Channing, 4, in 2011.
Published April 10, 2017

The Tampa Bay Times' series "Why Cops Shoot" deserves universal acclaim for shining a spotlight on a festering societal problem — how often police shoot people, especially black men.

The Times' exhaustive analysis in Florida found that blacks are shot at a higher rate than whites, and that on-duty police are almost never charged in these incidents. The report is evidence of what the black community already knew: Black lives don't matter. Not in America. Not in Florida.

READ THE SERIES: Find the complete "Why Cops Shoot" investigation here

The numbers were hiding in plain sight. But it took the dogged determination of the Times to mount an unprecedented analysis of six years of data on police shootings from 400 agencies.

When I read the series, I was deeply saddened, but I was not surprised. I have been fighting unjustified shootings for years. But the Times showed just how dire things have become in our state. According to report:

• 827 people were shot by police — one every 2½ days over a six-year period. More than half of the shootings — 434 — were fatal.

• Unarmed black people were nearly eight times more likely to be shot by police than whites.

• Nearly a fifth of people shot — 156 — were unarmed, and half of those were black.

• Blacks were twice as likely to be shot after being pulled over for a traffic violation or while reaching for something officers thought was a weapon — but wasn't.

• Blacks were four times as likely to be shot in the back.

These are some of the disturbing findings that should spark meaningful action. We need real change in how all police operate, how they are trained and how they use deadly force. And we must continue to document and report lives lost at the hands of police.

Associated Press (2014)

Lawyer Benjamin Crump, who has represented the families of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, says the Times' "Why Cops Shoot" series shows the need for continued police reform.

We've all read articles about black men being killed by police. We've seen videos of black men being gunned down by officers. We've even seen a black man killed while the video is streamed live on social media.

But the Times reporters didn't just look at individual incidents. They dug deep into thousands of records to create a database and analyze trends and patterns. They used hard facts to underscore the gut-wrenching problem plaguing our communities — and to question whether some of these shootings could have been averted.

The Times noted that some cases "highlight systemic problems that lead to questionable shootings: police operations that target minority neighborhoods; dubious traffic stops and nervous cops who rush to judgment; bad decisions by police that put them in harm's way so they feel forced to shoot. In the worst cases, officers lie. They change their stories, tamper with evidence. They can kill an unarmed man lying on his back."

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It's unconscionable that we could have such injustices. But this is reality. We can't have real change until we confront these facts.

The findings showed that many shootings are avoidable and unnecessary. One expert estimated a third of cases nationwide are "cases in which the suspect was unarmed or cases where police could have avoided putting themselves in harm's way, like unnecessarily standing in front of a suspect's car,'' according to the Times.

The investigation lays bare other issues — like whether our small-town police departments are becoming militarized and stocking up on more lethal weapons, and whether some departments are relying on use of force that is over the top and out of proportion.

Police officers deserve our respect and our thanks for putting their lives on the line and protecting our citizens. There will be times when a shooting — sometimes deadly — is necessary. Police often make split-second life-or-death decisions, and they will continue to do so. In fact, the Times found that most of the 827 shootings seemed justified.

But even one unjust death is one too many. An unarmed teenager shouldn't have to die in a traffic stop. In Rodney Mitchell's case, a nighttime traffic stop ended with Rodney dead from a gunshot to his head — all in less than a minute. Here was a young man hoping to be an elementary school teacher, and he was gunned down in his prime.

I ask the people of Florida to start today to call for real police reform, especially in communities of color. We need better communication, increased training, and de-escalation measures for officers.

Otherwise, we'll just have more fear, more violence and more deaths. And, as the Times found, far too many have died already.

Benjamin Crump is the lawyer and civil rights advocate who represents the families of Trayvon Martin, Corey Jones, Michael Brown and dozens of other high-profile civil rights and social justice cases. Crump has served as president of the National Bar Association and is the founder of the Benjamin Crump Social Justice Institute. He wrote this exclusively for the Tampa Bay Times.