2012 Was A Banner Year For The NYPD And Gun Violence
Even with murder rates dropping precipitously, new data released by the NYPD paints a pretty rough picture of our year in gun violence: though no officers were killed during 2012 confrontations with suspects, deadly shootings and the number of officers struck by bullets increased notably from the previous year, as did the number of people shot and killed by NYPD officers last year, which clocked in at 16.
There’s more, and it’s also not great: more officers were wounded by guns than any year since the late 90s, 14 people were shot by NYPD officers accidentally, eight officers committed suicide using city-issued guns, and, somewhat unexpectedly, there were 24 recorded incidents when officers “opened fire on dogs.” Well, at least Stop and Frisk is on the decline?
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.