The NYPD is on track to see a record low number of officers firing their weapons this year, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.
So far in 2017, NYPD officers fired their guns during 23 confrontations, a drop from 37 incidents last year. Comparatively, police fired their guns 59 times in 2005 and 147 times in 1996. Not included in the gun data are suicides and accidental discharges.
Inspector Kevin Maloney, who helms the NYPD unit that investigates officer-involved shootings, told the Daily News the number is “the lowest ever.”
According to the data, 32 officers were involved in shootings in 2017, firing 170 shots and hitting their intended target 75 times. By comparison, 70 officers fired 304 shots last year, hitting the target 107 times.
The NYPD cited both the creation of the Force Investigation Division to analyze officer-involved shootings and an increase in the use of stun guns for the drop in gun firings.
More than 15,000 officers have been trained for stun guns, which have been used more than 2,300 times through the end of last month, a 39 percent uptick from the same period in 2016. The devices were used 1,672 times in 2015 and 700 times in 2014.
The rising use of body cameras is also expected to impact the number of officer-involved shootings for the better.
“It’s only going to make us more educated in seeing what’s really happening — what the officers are facing and how they’re acting,” said department spokesman Chief Timothy Trainor, who has examined nearly 300 shootings.
