Considering The Facts Behind Officer-Involved Shootings

The public isn’t getting the full picture about law enforcement officer-involved shootings. That’s the argument of Fond du Lac Police Chief Bill Lamb, who points out there are over 800,000 law enforcement officers across the country that respond to more than 62 million police contacts annually. He says, “In 2015 there were 991 deadly police encounters and in 2016 there were an estimated 963. Look at those numbers in their totality, 800,000 officers, more than 62 million police contacts, and upper 900’s in deadly encounters.” By the same token over 57,000 law enforcement officers were assaulted in 2016 and more than 50,000 in 2015. Sixty-six officers were killed in 2016 and 41 in 2015 by someone who meant to kill them. Chief Lamb says it’s a dangerous field to be in. He says, “No officer ever wants to be involved in a deadly force encounter, but the simple fact of the matter and the unfortunate reality is that police officers are from time-to-time required to use deadly force to protect themselves or somebody else from some imminent threat of death or great bodily harm.”  Lamb feels if we are going to be talking about police-involved shootings all the facts have to be brought out.