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LAPD statistics doubted by inspector

LOS ANGELES, July 2 (UPI) -- An inspector reviewing Los Angeles Police Department statistics contends there is no link between police shootings and assaults on officers.

Alex Bustamante, inspector general of the Los Angeles Police Commission, which oversees the Police Department, scrutinized 2011 statistics of assault and shooting incidents, and challenged the method by which the LAPD tallies assaults on officers, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

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His report, which will be presented to the Commission Tuesday, suggests no correlation between the number of times police officers fired their weapons and the number of times they reported assaults on officers, contradicting the testimony of Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, who has repeatedly told the public and the commission officers were discharging their weapons because they were coming under attack more often, the newspaper said.

Bustamante's report calculated the number of incidents of shooting at officers, rather than the number of officers present at the incidents, and found 45 percent fewer examples than the claim by Beck. Instead of a double-digit increase, as Beck had contended, Bustamante said the number of assaults on officers actually held steady from 2010 to 2011.

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