322 killed by US police by threat level, January – April 2016: updated

Again, surprisingly few people who are unarmed and not attacking police end up being shot by police.

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Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

I reworked the data published by the Washington Post because as usual it does not put it in a form that illustrates how many people were armed or attacking police when shot.

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Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

This is what the Washington Post and The Guardian said on the 12 the Washington Post classified as unarmed and not attacking police:

“Ciara Meyer, an unarmed 12-year-old white female, was shot on Jan. 11, 2016, in an apartment in Penn Township, Pa. A Pennsylvania constable was serving Meyer’s father with an eviction notice. Meyer’s father pointed a rifle at the constable, who opened fire. The bullet travelled through the father’s arm, striking Ciara.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Kelsey Rose Hauser, an unarmed 25-year-old white woman, was shot on Jan. 16, 2016, in El Cajon, Calif. Hauser was a passenger in a stolen car that El Cajon police were pursuing. After a high-speed chase, the driver of the car drove toward an officer, who opened fire.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Daniel Shaver, an unarmed 26-year-old white man, was shot on Jan. 17, 2016, in a hotel in Mesa, Ariz. Mesa police were called to the hotel to investigate reports that a man pointed a rifle from a window. When police questioned Shaver in a hallway, he reached toward his back and didn’t cooperate with the officer’s orders.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Antronie Scott, an unarmed 36-year-old black man, was shot on Feb. 4, 2016, in San Antonio, Tex. Undercover San Antonio police officers were monitoring Scott, who had outstanding arrest warrants. When a uniformed officer approached Scott, he spun around with something in his hand. Police later determined that Scott was holding a cellphone.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“David Joseph, an unarmed 17-year-old black male, was shot on Feb. 8, 2016, in Austin, Tex. Austin police were responding to reports of an erratic, aggressive person. Joseph, who was naked, rushed toward the officer.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Calin Roquemore, an unarmed 24-year-old black man, was shot on Feb. 13, 2016, in Beckville, Tex. Roquemore fled a traffic stop by a Texas state trooper. Roquemore refused the trooper’s orders to show his hands. No weapon was found at the scene.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Marquintan Sandlin, an unarmed 32-year-old black man, was shot on Feb. 21, 2016, in Inglewood, Calif. The man was a passenger in a car stopped at an intersection. Inglewood police approached the car and noticed that the woman who was driving had a gun. Officers shot and killed Sandlin and the woman, Kisha Michael.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Travis Boyd Bradley, an unarmed 36-year-old white man, was shot on March 2, 2016, in Bel Air, Md. Harford County deputies responded to a report of a person who was suicidal. After a standoff, Bradley came out of the residence and charged toward a deputy.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Peter Gaines, an unarmed 37-year-old black man, was shocked with a stun gun and shot on March 12, 2016, in Houston, Tex. A Houston police officer approached Gaines after he vandalized a traffic sign. Gaines lunged at the officer.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Joshua Grubb, an unarmed 30-year-old white man, was shot on March 13, 2016, in Lenoir City, Tenn. Lenoir City police were investigating the report of a drunken driver. Grubb attempted to flee with an officer in the back of his pickup truck.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Cristian Rene Medina, an unarmed 23-year-old Hispanic man, was shot on March 16, 2016, in Florence, Calif. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were responding to a report of a robbery. When they encountered Medina, who matched the description of the robbery suspect, he held his hands together as if he was holding a gun and pointed toward deputies. His family said he suffered from depression.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

“Eric John Wilson, an unarmed 22-year-old man, was shot on April 17, 2016, in El Paso, Tex. El Paso police responded to a call about a suicidal person. Wilson told officers that he had two handguns and an assault rifle. He reached behind his back and pulled out a dark object, which turned out

to be a cellphone.” Source: Fatal force: A Washington Post investigation of people shot and killed by police in 2016 – Washington Post.

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Source: The Counted: people killed by police in the United States – interactive | US news | The Guardian.

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The spill-over benefits of unobservable victim precautions such as Lojack

Ian Ayres and Steven Levitt looked at the impact of Lojack  –  a hidden radio-transmitter device used for retrieving stolen vehicles.

There is no external indication that Lojack has been installed, so it does not directly affect the likelihood that a protected car will be stolen. 

Ian Ayres and Steven Levitt attempted to measure its general deterrence effect: they found  that the availability of Lojack is associated with a sharp fall in auto theft. Rates of other crime do not change appreciably. There was also a small but observable tendency for older-model cars to be stolen. presumably because these were somewhat less likely to have a Lojack transmitter.

 

The marginal social benefit of an additional unit of Lojack has been fifteen times greater than the marginal social cost in high crime areas. Those who install Lojack obtain less than 10 percent of the total social benefits, leading to under-provision by the market.

In praise of traffic cops

Due to budget cuts, 35% of Oregon State Highway Police were laid off. These mass layoffs dramatically reduced citations and resulted in a 10-20% increase in injuries and fatalities.

The strongest effects were under fair weather conditions outside of city-limits where state police employment levels were most relevant.

These results in DeAngelo and Hansen’s “Life and Death in the Fast Lane: Police Enforcement and Traffic FatalitiesAmerican Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2014 suggest that a highway fatality can be prevented with $309,000 of additional expenditures on traffic police.

A standard measure of the “value of a statistical life” is it is worth taking regulatory or law enforcement actions that reduce the risks of death when the costs of these actions are less than about $9 million per life saved.

Road safety is an area where James Buchanan’s punishment dilemma is strong:

For some laws or behavioural rules, the individual’s self-interest may override adherence [to the law], at least in certain circumstances.

Traffic violations offer a good example here.

Recognizing that he may himself violate traffic regulations on occasion, the individual may be reluctant to accept institutions that impose severe penalties, despite his preferences that all “others” than himself should be led to obey the general rules by sufficiently severe sanctions.

Just as the individual prefers that all others abide voluntarily by law while he remains free to violate it, so, too, he prefers that differentially severe punishment for law violation be meted out to others than himself.

Voters are less than keen to support strong penalties and convict when sitting on juries because of the fear that there but for the grace of god go I: that they would be in the dock at the receiving end of the heavy punishments.

If we commit to punish offenders and those who might commit offenses are deterred by this commitment to punish them, there would be fewer offenses. This also means doing the unpleasant things of meeting out these punishment when there are offenses by the undeterred:

  • It is painful to subject others to punishment (“son, this is going to hurt me as much as it hurts you”); and
  • It is even more painful to vote for penalties that may be imposed on yourself in person.

The initially low penalties for causing death by dangerous driving is an example of the punishment dilemma. These penalties only slowly increased over several decades as societal attitudes hardened.

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