Report: Race a factor in cop-on-cop shootings

A governor's task force formed after a black New York City officer was killed by another cop last year has concluded that racial bias is a consistent factor in simulated "friendly fire" scenarios, backing up statistics that show cops of color are more at risk of being shot by other cops.

The analysis of cop-on-cop shootings nationwide began after the deaths of NYPD Officer Omar Edwards, who was shot while chasing a suspect in Harlem last year, and Mount Vernon Officer Christopher Ridley, who was killed in 2008.

The report released Thursday recommends that police departments make scenario-based training mandatory and expand diversity training to draw on the experiences of officers who have been mistaken for offenders, among others.

The recommendations "are worthy of consideration by police agencies nationwide," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in a statement. Gov. David A. Paterson called the report "groundbreaking work" and pledged to consider adopting its recommendations in the coming weeks.

Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said all officers undergo training on how to respond if confronted by another officer while out of uniform; that training does not address race specifically, he said. After the Edwards shooting, officers got another round of training to reinforce how to respond to minimize the risk of a shooting. Dormer said all bureau and precinct commanders have received a copy of the report for a later discussion.

"We're going to be looking at it very closely, and if there is anything that should be adopted . . . it will be," Dormer said.

Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said he could recall no "close call" incidents in which off-duty or out-of-uniform officers were confronted by another cop.

"It's all in the training. You have [to] pound the message home that if you're off-duty or out of uniform, you've got to respond correctly to the command," he said.

The task force's report states that 10 of 14 officers killed in such incidents since 1995 were officers of color; nine of 10 officers killed while off-duty by fellow cops since 1981 were black or Latino. The last fatal shooting of a white off-duty cop by another officer was in 1982.

While fatal incidents are rare - just 26 in the U.S. since 1981 - they are "the tip of a proverbial iceberg" of thousands of dangerous confrontations every year, the report states.

"The research supports the view that race is generally a factor in shoot-don't-shoot decision-making, but to say that race was the precipitating factor in any particular incident is difficult or impossible to determine," said Zachary Carter, the task force's vice chairman and a former U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York.

Edwards, 25, was in plain clothes when he saw a man rummaging through his car, police said. He grappled with the man and gave chase with his gun in his hand. One of three undercover officers in a passing car jumped from the vehicle and fired six times, killing Edwards.

The task force also examined the case of Ridley, 23, who was killed by uniformed Westchester County officers as he tried to arrest a mugger in White Plains.

Carter said most of the report's training recommendations were intended to increase the time officers had to make a decision about a perceived threat. In the Ridley shooting and nearly every other, the decision to shoot was made very quickly and involved "suspects" who had a drawn gun, he said.

The analysis of interactive scenarios, in which officers practice making quick decisions and using verbal commands, showed that both white and nonwhite cops are more likely to fire more quickly on suspects of color.

"There is strong evidence that race can be a factor when you have to count time in milliseconds," Carter said.

Task force recommendations

• Develop statewide and national protocols on how off-duty and out-of-uniform cops should take police action and respond when confronted by other officers.

• Interactive, scenario-based training to be mandatory for all officers statewide.

• Federal and state governments should accelerate the testing and training to reduce unconscious racial bias in shooting decisions.

• Police training on race and diversity to be expanded and draw on experiences of officers who have been mistaken for offenders.

• Formation of a state-level support team to be deployed to all friendly fire shootings.

• Establish a mandatory reporting system for all gun discharges, and a voluntary annual survey for officers to report cop-on-cop confrontations.

• Prosecutors overseeing investigations should publicly disclose as many details as legally possible as early as possible.

• Protocols should be developed for use by community organizations that provide training to civilians on how to handle themselves during encounters with police.

• Federal and local law enforcement agencies should launch a program to research experiences of officers of color, especially when off duty.