ACLU Briefing Paper Finds At Least 109 Police-Involved Killings Since 2010; Victims from Counties Across Maryland
March 18, 2015
The FBI’s 2012 data on “justifiable homicides” by law enforcement (which does not include all deaths at the hands of police) lists Maryland as having the 6th highest number of homicides by police out of 39 states reporting.
Key findings from the ACLU briefing paper:
1.At least 109 people died in police encounters in Maryland between 2010-2014. These deaths were dispersed throughout the state in 17 counties and Baltimore City.
2.Sixty-nine percent of those who died in a police encounter (75 people) were Black. Blacks make up 29 percent of Maryland’s population.
3.Five Black people died at the hands of police for every White person who died, when the size of the Black and White populations were taken into account. Put another way, the rate at which Blacks died by a police encounter (deaths per population size) was five times that of Whites.
4.Forty-one percent of those who died (45 people) were not armed with a weapon of any kind.
5.The number of unarmed Blacks who died (36 people) exceeded the total number of all Whites who died (30 people), armed or not.
6.Ten unarmed Black people died for every unarmed White person who died, when the size of the Black and White populations were taken into account. Put another way, the rate at which unarmed Blacks died by a police encounter (deaths per population size) was ten times that of Whites.
7.Thirty-eight percent of those who died (41 people) presented in a way that suggested a possible medical or mental health issue, disability, substance use or similar issue.
8.Seventy-nine percent of those who died (86 people) were killed by police gunfire.
9.Twenty-one percent of those who died (23 people) were not shot; in most of these cases police used handcuffs or other restraints, pepper spray, and/or a taser. Several individuals were killed in the course of a vehicle pursuit.
10.Police officers were criminally charged in less than two percent (2 cases) of the 109 incidents.
Go to the ACLU website to download the briefing paper, “Deaths in Police Encounters in Maryland, 2010-2014.”
https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-brie...-police-involved-killings-2010-victims-counti