The Tampa Bay Times spent four years compiling what it calls "Florida's most comprehensive database of police shootings." Data from nearly 400 law enforcement agencies across Florida reveal startling racial disparities: forty-one percent of people shot by police were black, despite making up 15 percent of the state's population.
The years-long investigation, "Why Cops Shoot," looks at what happened any time an officer shot someone over a 6-year period. Revealed by the data:
- More than 820 people were shot in the six-year period covered by the database, averaging 138 shootings by police every year.
- More than 1 in 5 people who were shot failed to follow orders from an officer.
- More than 240 people shot showed signs of mental instability.
- By race, 41 percent who were shot were black; 40 percent were white; 15 percent were Hispanic.
- More often than not, 52.5 percent of the people shot by police were killed.
The stories were also used as the basis for two episodes of the Radiolab podcast.
Tampa Bay Times staff writer Ben Montgomery shares the findings of his extensive investigative project and the police officers, sheriff deputies, and family members from across Florida he interviewed to tell the story.
Also joining the program is Dr. Brandon Cooper, the legal council for the Collier County NAACP, reflecting on the findings and the relationships between African-American communities in Southwest Florida.
