http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--policestats-shoot0622jun22,0,6062906.story
Police firing fewer shots, have higher accuracy rate
June 22, 2003, 6:32 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) _ Statistics released by the police department show that officers are shooting less and finding their targets more.
Police had a 29 percent accuracy rate of 386 shots which hit their marks 113 times in 2002. The rate improved on the previous year when police had a 26 percent accuracy rate, The New York Post reported in Sunday editions.
Also in 2002, police increased their accuracy in shootouts to 18 percent and fired half as many shots as in 2000. Officers were struck only three times last year.
"We attribute this to our training in which we instruct police officers on how to avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily to danger," said Deputy Chief Michael Collins. "We are reducing the chance they will put themselves in must-shoot situations."
Collins said the overall rate for a police force of about 37,000 members makes the New York Police Department one of the nation's most restrained.
But not everyone is satisfied with the new figures.
"The fact they're hitting their targets more often does not speak to the fact of whether they're hitting the right people," civil rights lawyer Ron Kuby told The Post.
Police firing fewer shots, have higher accuracy rate
June 22, 2003, 6:32 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) _ Statistics released by the police department show that officers are shooting less and finding their targets more.
Police had a 29 percent accuracy rate of 386 shots which hit their marks 113 times in 2002. The rate improved on the previous year when police had a 26 percent accuracy rate, The New York Post reported in Sunday editions.
Also in 2002, police increased their accuracy in shootouts to 18 percent and fired half as many shots as in 2000. Officers were struck only three times last year.
"We attribute this to our training in which we instruct police officers on how to avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily to danger," said Deputy Chief Michael Collins. "We are reducing the chance they will put themselves in must-shoot situations."
Collins said the overall rate for a police force of about 37,000 members makes the New York Police Department one of the nation's most restrained.
But not everyone is satisfied with the new figures.
"The fact they're hitting their targets more often does not speak to the fact of whether they're hitting the right people," civil rights lawyer Ron Kuby told The Post.
