St. Paul police involved in 11 fatal shootings since 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - St. Paul police officers have been involved in more fatal shootings of suspects than any other department in Minnesota since 2008, according to a Minnesota Public Radio News analysis of law enforcement data.
Wednesday's shooting death of a young black man has brought new attention to the use of deadly force by St. Paul police. The MPR News analysis (http://bit.ly/1DKioSP ) shows that 11 of the 61 fatal shootings by officers in Minnesota over the span were in St. Paul. Minneapolis, which has about 100,000 more people than St. Paul, had four fatal shootings by officers in the same time period.
Eight of the St. Paul shootings involved people of color. Civil rights leaders have called for outside investigators to examine all the officer-involved fatalities in the city.
"We have a public that's not trusting of the police department," said Jeff Martin, president of the St. Paul branch of the NAACP. "And we seem to have a police department that's not trusting of the public. So when those interactions happen, it seems to be a recipe for disaster."
Mayor Chris Coleman said Thursday he wants an audit of the Police Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission, which reviews police actions.
"We need to know what, if anything, is broken before we can identify what needs to be fixed and how we might proceed," Coleman said.
St. Paul Police Chief Tom Smith has met with community leaders to discuss the commission in response to complaints that it is not independent. The commission is made up of five community members and two police officers appointed by the mayor.
Wednesday's shooting remains under investigation. Police say they shot and killed Marcus Golden after he drove his vehicle at the officers who responded to reports that a man was threatening a woman at an apartment building.
Most of the St. Paul shooting cases have involved suspects armed with guns or knives. But in a few cases where officers opened fire, suspects were accused of throwing rocks or using their vehicles as weapons.
Former Police Chief William Finney said the statistic should not serve as an indictment on the department. Finney, who is black, said officers have a duty to protect the public and themselves.
"It's just always a shock in this part of the country when a police officer has to use a firearm for deadly force. So we need to look at the totality of the circumstances, and investigate thoroughly, and lay that before the proper judicial review," Finney said.
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Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mprnews.org