Chicagoans Six Times More Likely To Be Shot By Police Than New Yorkers Are
By Jon Graef in News on May 3, 2014 6:15PM
Once, a visiting friend from New York shared a morbid piece of humor that Big Apple residents apparently have about Chicago's finest: "Chicago Police: two warning shots to the head!"
Using census data, WBEZ confirmed that perception may have some basis in reality. WBEZ's Rob Wildeboer reported Chicagoans are almost six times more likely to be shot by police than New Yorkers are. WBEZ found Chicago police shot 57 people in 2012 while their New York counterparts shot 30 people.
This despite a population difference of a little less than six million people between the two cities.
In 2009, Chicago police shot 61 people. New York police, by comparison, shot 32 people.
Chicago surpassed New York in terms of the gun violence murder rate in 2012.
So it could be argued that Chicago police, in fact, may be justified in using force in a way that their Big Apple colleagues are not.
[Though, it must be said, violent crime in both cities is reportedly down, although Chicago's numbers claiming decline are highly, highly suspect.]
That said, the board charged with investigating police shootings, and whether or not they are justified, isn't perhaps the most impartial judge in the world.
To wit: "The Independent Police Review Authority was established in 2007 to investigate Chicago police shootings. According to a spokesman, the seven-year-old agency has never found a police shooting unjustified. Not once."
Further: African-American Chicagoans are 10 times more likely to be shot by police than white Chicagoans. But, because those shootings are rarely investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority, it's hard to say whether police actions in those cases were justified as well.
Unsurprisingly, WBEZ said Chicago Police Department did not comment on their findings.