Phoenix, the country’s fifth most-populous city, has had 43 police shootings so far in 2018, more than any of the country’s four largest cities. Phoenix police officials blame the surge on increasingly violent people in the city. Activists have called cops trigger-happy and demand investment in communities. An analysis by The Arizona Republic shows prison history, mental illness and recent drug use were common factors in Phoenix’s soaring number of shootings.
Facing public backlash and demands for information about why Phoenix police fired more times than any other agency its size in the United States, Phoenix in November launched an online data page that catalogs its police shootings. Among the key takeaways as of Dec. 19: 21 people were killed by police gunfire; 36 of the 43 shootings this year involved suspects with guns, either real or replicas; 31 shootings involved white subjects, nine involved black subjects, and three involved Native Americans; 15 people shot by police were more than 40 years old this year, compared with three last year; 68 officers fired their weapon, more than double the 29 who fired in 2017. Michael White, a policing researcher in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, says the broad patterns that the city’s shootings have in common don’t explain Phoenix’s high shooting rates, considering such factors are common in other cities as well. “I think the police have gotten much better, rather than worse, in dealing with those things,” White said, referring to improved police interactions with community members. “That makes me think that there’s something unique going on here.”