L.A. sheriffs shoot a lot of unarmed people and Latinos

A new report from Special Counsel Merrick Bobb looks at more than 380 shootings by sheriff's deputies over 15 years. The report finds that Latinos are shot at much more often than their arrest numbers would suggest. Also, in all 15 shootings last year in which a deputy fired because he or she believed the suspect was going for a weapon, no weapons were found. From the story at ZevWeb:

“It goes without saying that such incidents, particularly where the victim turns out to be unarmed, carry the potential for great tragedy,” the report states. “They also present a risk of significant liability to the County and may make the work of LASD deputies more difficult by fomenting distrust among the population they serve.”

Bobb’s report calls on the department to reevaluate and improve its training, while doing a better job of collecting data to track and reduce such shootings.

Bobb also urged the sheriff’s officials to scrutinize the reasons behind the Century Station’s consistently high number of shootings—nearly double the number at the department’s next busiest station, Lennox. Century is based inLynwood and includes some of the region’s most active gang neighborhoods, including the Florence-Firestone area.

The Bobb report also concludes that sheriff's data on shootings is “missing, inaccurate, lost, or lacking in basic internal integrity.” The sheriff's department disputed the report's methods, assumptions and conclusions.