Police shootings since 2008 have skyrocketed and the numbers are the highest in recent Houston history. Now justice advocates are asking, “why?”
Houston criminal lawyers, demonstrators and other community leaders are seeking to get an answer during a City Council meeting this afternoon. They are hoping to get an independent and transparent investigation to look into the issue and find the real reason the numbers have increased so dramatically.
“The incident reports are never published, the homicide report is never published, the Internal Affairs Division report is never published, and the grand jury is secret,” Houston civil rights attorney, Randall Kallinen, says, “so we’re calling for an independent investigation that’s open to the public, one that is not conducted by the police department or the district attorney’s office, into why there’s been this increase in shootings.”
Last year, the police killed fifteen people and injured seventeen others. The statistics are even more dreadful when you consider the fact that since tasers have been released, the officials have even more non-lethal ways to subdue a dangerous person.
To learn more, see the article in the Houston Press. Image via Kenny Miller [Flickr].