Articles by Steven Gilchrist

According to Mapping Police Violence.org 1,134 civilians were killed by on duty police officers in the United States in 2021.  The Washington Post  also has a database of fatal police shootings of civilians. Fatal Force, The  Washington Post database, was established by the newspaper on January 1, 2015. This database has kept track of all of the people shot and killed by law enforcement officers in the United States since 2015. Since The Post started the Fatal Force database more than 5,000 people have been shot and killed in the United States by police. Over 95% of the individuals shot and killed by police during this time frame have been male. Approximately 1/2 of the people shot and killed by police have been between the ages of 20 - 40. The states with the highest rates of fatal shootings by law enforcement are New Mexico, Alaska, and Oklahoma. The FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both keep track of the number of fatal shootings by police; h...

Last year, cities across the United States saw an increase in the number of homicides compared to recent years. The murder rate increased in cities such as Buffalo, Chicago, and Philadelphia. The number of homicides also increased in Louisville, Kentucky. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the national murder rate increased nearly 15% in 2021 compared to 2020. As of August 2021, approximately 65% of the murders in Louisville have gone unsolved. As of 2019, the national average for solved murder cases nationwide was 61.4% according to the FBI.  According to the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD), the city of Louisville had 188 homicides in 2021. Last year was the deadliest year on record for the city of Louisville. The previous record for the most homicides in a year for Louisville was in 2020, when 173 people were murdered. According to LMPD records, 583 people were injured by gun violence in 2021. Also, in 2021, 24 children were killed and 123 children were in...

The federal government does not currently have accurate records on how many civilians are killed by police officers annually in the U.S. However, since 2015, The Washington Post has been tracking police shootings of civilians nationwide. Also, the advocacy group Mapping Police Violence maintains a database of police killings of civilians. According to Mapping Police Violence, from 2013 – 2020, 98.3% of police killings of civilians have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime. The state of California has one of the highest rates of police-civilian shootings in the country. In 2018, lawmakers in California worked to create legislation to make police misconduct records available to the public and to require police departments to release body camera footage. In addition to being the most populous state in the U.S., California has more police shootings than any other state. On average, there are about 100 to 200 civilians in California who are killed by police every year. In...

2019 marked the 5 th consecutive year that there were over 300 homicides in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. In 2015 there were 342 homicides. In 2016 there were 318 homicides. Prior to 2015, the city had experienced a significant span of time with less than 300 homicides per year. 2015 marked the first time Baltimore had over 300 homicides since the 1990s, which was the deadliest decade in the city’s history in terms of overall homicides. In 2017, Baltimore had a homicide rate of 56 per every 100,000 residents. In that year, there were 342 homicides. 2017 marked the highest per-capita homicide rate in the history of the city. In 2017 Baltimore also had the highest per-capita homicide rate of any American city with a population greater than 500,000 people. For more information about the city of Baltimore’s efforts to reduce violent crimes visit these resources: https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-ci-cr-300-homicides-2019-20191114-zwu7nn5dpjf2nf5h6u5jxpqrh4-...

In 2017, Reuters news service conducted a 6-part investigation titled: Shock Tactics. This series investigated the usage of Taser guns by U.S. law enforcement officials.  The Reuters investigation revealed that 1,005 people have died after law enforcement officers have stunned them using a Taser since the year 2000.  The Reuters examination also found that Tasers were the cause or contributing factor in 153 of those deaths.  25% of the 1,005 people from the Reuters investigation were suffering from a mental health breakdown or a neurological disorder.  In 90% of the incidents the deceased individual was unarmed.  In addition, a majority of the deaths in the Reuters investigation involved other types of force including: batons or pepper spray.  Critics of Taser guns say that use of the weapon can lead to excessive force and more confrontation between law enforcement officers and civilians.   According to a 2011 National Institute of Justice stud...

In different parts of the United States, several law enforcement agencies are struggling to fill vacant police officer jobs.  The challenge is multifaceted.  Over a decade ago, during the 2008 recession police departments either froze or slowed hiring.  A number of police departments are seeing officers leave their jobs by taking early retirement options.  Other challenges that police departments encounter with filling positions include: potential candidates seeking other careers, scandals involving police malfeasance, and on the job dangers can keep potential applicants from seeking employment as a police officer.  With certain departments s tr u g gling to fill positions, department s compete against one another to recruit officers.  Departments that can offer high er salaries can bring in officers that are looking to earn more money. According to a Nat ional Public Radio report titled: "America's Gro wing Cop Shortage," nation wide, the number of pol...

According to a March 30, 2015 National Public Radio story, “Open Cases: Why One-Third of Murders In America Go Unresolved,” by Martin Kaste, criminologists estimate that at least 200,000 murders have gone unsolved in the United States since the 1960s. There are several challenges that law enforcement officials encounter when trying to solve murder investigations. 1. Prosecutors might want clear-cut investigations that can lead to plea bargains. 2. A pervasive “no snitch” culture (in particular in minority communities). 3. Poor communication between law enforcement and the general public. 4. Insufficient staffing/limited resources 5. Prioritization of cases University of Maryland criminologist Charles Wellford suggests in the NPR story that the attention given to certain murder investigations depends on prioritization.   “Take for example, homicides of police officers in the course of their duty…they’re frequently done in communities that generally have l...

As a result of terrorist attacks over the past 15 years in the United States and abroad from groups such as Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban, the federal government and the media has focused on combating terrorism.   The focus on terrorism is timely and necessary.   Nonetheless, communities and civic leaders should remain cognizant of the increasing prevalence of gangs in the United States. In 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation published the 100-page “National Gang Threat Assessment” document.   The Assessment highlighted numerous components of the reality of gangs in the United States.   Below are several key points contained in the Assessment.   Gang activity in communities in the United States is a complex situation with a legacy that involves numerous social challenges.   People might seek out gangs for similar reasons that they are attracted to other organizations.   Gangs can offer a family life, a sense of identity and belonging, ...

A USA Today investigation initially conducted in 2014 has revealed that police departments across the country, in certain circumstances, would not pursue thousands of fugitives if they have fled the state where they have committed a crime.   The USA Today investigation led by reporter Brad Heath suggests that police departments will not pursue fugitives who flee state boundaries because they did not want to allocate the time nor necessary resources to arrest them from another county or state. Advocates for victims of crimes suggest that the financial cost of apprehending fugitives across state lines restricts law enforcement personnel from arresting fugitives.   “I’m troubled as to what might be driving these choices, and if it’s solely financial, then what are we going to do to reverse that.   These are dangerous people,” says Will Marling, executive director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance. The fugitives that police do not pursue repre...