Fifty-four people were fatally shot by police in 2011, according to autopsy reports analyzed by The Times, an increase all the more notable because it occurred at a time when the number of homicides in the area fell to historic lows.
With 612 people killed in the county last year, nearly 1 in every 10 such deaths occurred at the hands of law enforcement officers.
Michael Gennaco, who heads the county’s Office of Independent Review, said he’s in the midst of examining the unusually large number of fatal shootings by sheriff’s deputies.
"Until you really pull each of them apart, you don’t know whether it was just a blip or if it is the start of an upward trend," he said. LA Times
FACTS & FIGURES
In January, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit, accusing Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department brass of failing to root out deputy brutality inside the county’s jails. Huffington Post
The lawsuit details multiple allegations of inmate abuse and alleges Sheriff Lee Baca and his top executives are "aware of the culture of deputy violence that pervades the Jails but have failed to take reasonable measures to remedy the problem." The ACLU is a court-appointed monitor of jailhouse conditions. The Seattle Times
Accusations of deputy brutality in Los Angeles jails have been common for years. The FBI is investigating allegations of abuse and other deputy misconduct inside the jails. LA Times
Numerous human rights observers have raised concerns about increased police brutality in the U.S. in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. UNCHR
