PHILADELPHIA, March 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. Department of Justice report states that poor training leads police officers in Philadelphia, Penn., to fear for their lives, which causes common, unnecessary justifications for deadly force.
The Justice Department investigation began in 2013 and the report was released Monday, a few months after the controversial death of Brandon Tate-Brown, 26, an unarmed African-American man who was killed by Philadelphia police in December.
The report found that even as shootings are common, officers are not required to carry less lethal alternatives, such as stun guns or pepper sprays. Philadelphia police were involved in 390 shootings from 2007 to 2014.
Fifty-nine unarmed people were shot by Philadelphia police in 2007, about 15 percent of all shootings, and the police has averaged 51 shootings a year since, but since 2012 have decreased. Four people were killed and 17 were injured by police in 2014.
Related
About half of the cases involving armed suspects, officers believed a suspect was reaching for a weapon.
The Department of Justice does not indicate racial discrimination by Philadelphia police. Although 80 percent of shooting victims were African-American, whites who were shot were more likely to be unarmed.
African-American suspects were shot by African-American officers, in most cases.
The report comes weeks after the release of the Department of Justice report on the Ferguson Police Department that found police officers and judicial workers in Ferguson, Mo., were routinely involved in discrimination against African-Americans.
The investigation launched by Attorney General Eric Holder found police officers in the predominantly white department made racist jokes about African-Americans -- including U.S. President Barack Obama -- using their work email accounts.
