Intro
- There are more than 1400 arrest-related deaths in the United States each year.
- During the years of this study 12.3% of firearm homicides were due to police use of deadly force.
- Mentally ill persons and African Americans are many times more likely to be killed by police
The reduction of arrest-related deaths should be a national priority. Some police departments have already begun taking steps to reduce the use of deadly force, such as the deescalation training in Salt Lake City.
I presented a poster at the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists' Annual Conference, in Boise, ID. The poster was titled Discussing Mental Illness As a Risk Factor In Arrest-Related Deaths. This poster is a small piece of the work that I've been doing on the topic of arrest-related deaths. I start out by looking at data for the entire United States, and then narrow down to just Washinton State (that's where I live). Don't worry about trying to read the photo, I've expanded the sections below and will walk you through the research and my results. At the end I list the sources for all the numbers that I used to calculate the results.
Background
- 62.9 million persons interact with police officers in some capacity each year in the United States.
- Law Enforcement Officers make 11.8 million arrests each year in the United States.
- Hospital Emergency Departments treat approximately 80,000 non-fatal injuries each year due to law enforcement use of force.
- Previous surveys of law enforcement records have estimated that 7% of all law enforcement contacts with civilians involve mentally ill persons
Methods
This study was a secondary analysis of data gathered by the Fatal Encounters Project in order to examine the role mental illness has in arrest-related deaths. Records were chosen for events occurring over a six-year time period from January 2010 through December 2015 and analyzed using R version 3.3.2.
Frequency of Symptoms of Mental Illness in Arrest-Related Deaths
Table 1: The Number of National Arrest-Related Deaths between 2010 - 2015 with perceived mental illness at the time of encounter with law enforcement. Data Source: Fatal Encounters project
| Subject Status | Count |
|---|---|
| Showed Symptoms of Mental Illness | 1620 |
| No Symptoms of Mental Illness | 5427 |
| Unknown Mental Health Status | 1491 |
| Total Arrest Related Deaths | 8538 |
Table 2: The Number of Washington State Arrest-Related Deaths between 2010 - 2015 with perceived mental illness at the time of encounter with law enforcement. Data Source: Fatal Encounters project
| Subject Status | Count |
|---|---|
| Showed Symptoms of Mental Illness | 63 |
| No Symptoms of Mental Illness | 102 |
| Unknown Mental Health Status | 39 |
| Total Arrest Related Deaths | 204 |
Results
United States
- Arrest-related deaths occur at a rate of 12 per 100,000 arrests
- 36% of arrest-related deaths occur in California, Texas, and Florida
- 58% of arrest-related deaths occur in 10 states
- 23% of all arrest-related deaths were persons exhibiting symptoms of mental illness
- Nationally persons exhibiting symptoms of mental illness were 3.97 (95% CI 3.75 - 4.19) times more likely to be killed during interaction with police
Washington State
- There are 21.6 arrest-related deaths per 100,000 arrests
- 33% of all arrest-related deaths were persons exhibiting symptoms of mental illness
- Erratic behavior by a suspect is attributed to drug/alcohol use twice as often compared to the US.
- Persons exhibiting symptoms of mental illness were 8.59 (95%CI 6.31 - 11.72) times more likely to be killed during interaction with Police
Limitations
- There are significant gaps in data availability on law enforcement and its use of deadly force; both nationally and at the state level. There is no official record or "gold standard" by which to evaluate data on arrest-related deaths.
- The determination of mental health status or drug use relies on the report of witnesses or the officer involved, rather than official diagnosis, which limits the ability to separate the two conditions.
References
Washington Accoiation of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. Crime In Washington: years 2010 - 2015. http://www.waspc.org/crime-in-wa-archive-folder. Accessed May 31, 2017
FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting; years 2010 - 2015. Available at https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s. Accessed May 31, 2017
U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). (2013). Police behavior during traffic and street stops, 2011. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2013. http:// www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4779 Accessed February 2016
Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) nonfatal injury data. 2017. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html Accessed April 5, 2017
Deane, M., et al. (1999). Emerging Partnerships Between Mental Health and Law Enforcement. American Psychiatric Association Psychiatric Services Online; January 1999; Vol. 50 No. 1.
Photo Credit: [Jamelle Bouie] (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbouie/sets/72157646091879339)
Photo Credit: Whitney Curtis for the New York Times
very well written! thank you! im re'steeming! hey there Im Mike Bluehair! this post speaks to my passions. google my name if you wanna see what im about. Again 5 out of 5 stars! love this so much!
Thanks! I will check out your videos. It looks like we definitely have a common interest in police accountability.
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