So far in April, Chicago police have shot and killed four men and wounded four others, bringing the total number of police shootings for the year to 20, eight of them fatal.
While those numbers are somewhat higher than in prior years, since 1974 the trend in Chicago actually has been a near-steady decline in shootings by police.
“It is something that happens, a blip, they happen,” said John Doherty, a professor of criminal justice at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., referring to the recent rash of shootings. “You could make a case that the really good weather brings people out, there is more chance for interaction between police and citizens–all that plays into it.”
“It is an aberration,” said Lt. John Kline of the Chicago Police training division. “There is no way to predict these events.”
In 1974, records show, 137 civilians were shot by Chicago police and 35 died. The next year, 151 civilians were shot and 37 died–the highest numbers during the 24-year period. The fewest civilians were shot in Chicago in 1995–27, six of whom died.
Last year, 34 shootings resulted in the deaths of six civilians.
On April 6, officers shot two men–killing one–in the Cabrini-Green housing development after witnessing the men shoot a third man and point a gun at them, according to the police. Another man was shot dead by police April 2 during an undercover sting operation at a South Side restaurant, police said, after he brandished a gun and tried to rob the officer. A 33-year-old man, on parole for attempted murder was shot to death April 3 as he allegedly tried to run over a police officer with the van he was driving. And on April 1, a 17-year-old was shot to death by a detective when he began to shoot at officers during a foot chase in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, police said.
While investigations continue, officials said preliminary information shows each to be justified.
Since the mid-1980s, the Chicago Police Department has used a stricter set of standards for the use of deadly force than provided by Illinois law.
The Chicago rules authorize the use of deadly force only when the officer reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent death or great harm to the officer or another person. Deadly force also can be used when a suspect is trying to escape arrest when the officers believe the person to be arrested has committed, or tried to commit, a felony that involved the use or threat of physical force likely to cause death or great harm. A Chicago officer can use deadly force if a person is trying to escape arrest and is using a firearm.
Illinois law permits the use of deadly force to prevent the commission of any forcible felony, but the Chicago department does not.
Nationally, the number of people slain by police has dropped considerably since the early 1970s. In 1996, the latest year available, there were 332 justifiable homicides by police–the fourth-lowest number in 30 years, according to the FBI.
Improved police forces are reasons for the overall decrease in shootings, experts said.
“They have better training, and better educated people,” Doherty said. “Many police departments (like Chicago’s) require some college education.
“We see more and more violence in society generally, more sophisticated firearms, more violence among gang members and among youth, but the number of shootings by the police is declining,” Kline said. “The reason is that (the police) have become more sophisticated in dealing with violent people.
“We teach control tactics that range from conversation to deadly force and everything in between,” Kline said. In addition, “there are more minority officers and women, and the whole public outcry and concern over possible litigation is a factor. In 1975 you just shot, nobody ever thought of turning around and suing anyone.”
