Reading Between the Headlines
"Officer-involved shooting" is the kind of hot-button phrase we need to carefully examine before we make assumptions.
Breaking news is coming through our local news channels, and all headlines appear to be similar to this: “Officer Involved Shooting in Euclid Being Investigated by BCI [Bureau of Criminal Investigation].”
The Police Data Initiative, a consortium of law enforcement agencies, technologists and researchers looking to build trust and accountability between police and the public, says this about “officer-involved shootings”:
“Although no national or standard definition exists, an officer involved shooting (OIS) may be defined as the discharge of a firearm, which may include accidental and intentional discharges, by a police officer, whether on or off duty. In some cases OIS datasets only include instances in which an officer discharged a firearm at a person and may not include discharges directed into or at a vehicle, animal, etc.”
In other words, any time a police officer fires a gun at someone, for any reason, that’s labeled an officer-involved shooting.
These days, the term can have a very negative connotation, reminding us of incidents in which cops have shot at people, especially Black people, under controversial circumstances.
Earlier this year, The Washington Post published an article about the rise of fatal officer-involved shootings in 2022.
“The number of fatal police shootings across the country rose again last year, with officers killing 1,096 people, including a 2-year-old girl caught in a standoff. Last year saw the most incidents since The Washington Post started tracking the deaths in its Fatal Force database in 2015, after a police officer killed Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. There were only 15 days without such a shooting in 2022.”
Not every shot by a police officer is unnecessary. Often, officers are protecting lives, including their own. Last year, 61 police officers were killed by gunfire; 14 died due to vehicular assault.
Understanding the circumstances of particular incidents helps to put a situation into perspective. In the case of today’s officer-involved shooting, the Euclid Police Department initially issued this statement:
“ATTENTION Residents in the area between Babbit and E 250, Officers are currently searching for an armed male suspect on foot in that area. It is a black male, believed to be dressed in all black. Please stay inside your homes and call Euclid Police Department if you see anything suspicious in your area. PLEASE DO NOT CONFRONT THE SUSPECT. Call 9-1-1 if you see him.”
Soon, more details emerged. This just a few minutes ago from Cleveland’s WKYC:
“A 19-year-old driving a suspected stolen vehicle was shot in the leg by a Euclid police officer during a traffic stop on Wednesday, while a 14-year-old was arrested and a 16-year-old suspected believed to be armed and dangerous is at large.”
It’s amazing how fast news gets out via the Internet, and how fast assumptions can be drawn before facts emerge. In this case, information was quickly released, tamping down cries of bad police behavior.
It’s a lesson in reading headlines carefully and waiting for more details before jumping to conclusions.