LAPD Panel Restricts the Use of Force

The Los Angeles Police Commission on Wednesday prohibited officers from shooting at moving vehicles unless another deadly threat exists, tightening long-standing LAPD policy the week after the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old Black boy, Devon Brown (Pictured above) who had led police on a short car chase. The 5-0 vote came with little debate. On Tuesday — the day of Devin Brown's funeral and burial — commissioners had been unable to agree on a new policy. Several attributed the unanimous vote to small but significant changes made overnight in the wording of the proposal. Mayor James K. Hahn, who is fighting for reelection, said Tuesday that he wanted "this matter to be resolved immediately." Under pressure from the mayor, who appointed all five members, the commission reconvened Wednesday to try again. "Obviously, we'll never adopt a policy that would take away the officer's own right of self-defense," Hahn said at a news conference after Wednesday's vote. "But this policy we think will give clear guidance that there's too many problems shooting at moving vehicles, and it ought to be avoided as much as possible." Police Chief William J. Bratton said the new guidelines brought his department in step with many other major police departments nationwide. Officers now will be trained to "do everything to the best of [their] ability to get out of the way" of a vehicle that is moving toward them. They will be trained to not consider a vehicle on its own to be "a threat that justifies an officer's use of force." He said he saw "no clear exemptions." Under the old policy, officers had been taught that a moving vehicle heading at them could constitute a deadly threat. Though it was discouraged, they were permitted to fire if they thought their lives or the lives of others were in jeopardy. Since 1985, LAPD officers have shot at moving cars about half a dozen times each year, killing 25 people and injuring at least 30 others, according to a Times review of police records last year. That review found that 90% of the shootings resulted in a reprimand or retraining. The incidents cost the city millions of dollars in civil lawsuits. [more]

• The latest police shooting of a young black male is heard, but not felt, around the city and in the mayor’s race. [more