It has now been nearly a month since the fatal police shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley.
Sadly, this type of senseless and avoidable tragedy happens more frequently than it should. American police shoot and injure or kill approximately 130 people each year who were perceived by officers as using a vehicle in a threatening way. Such shootings account for more than 7% of all people struck by police gunfire.
Earlier this year, Renée Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis. In 2023, a Blendon, Ohio police officer fatally shot Ta’Kiya Young, which also killed her unborn child. This shooting was also in response to an alleged shoplifting call.
Shooting at moving vehicles is a bad tactic. And use of force policies should strictly prohibit officers from doing so in most circumstances. The Police Executive Research Forum and a national consensus of 11 law enforcement leadership organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, have recommended that police agencies adopt such policies.
The rationale is clear. Although vehicles can be used in a deadly manner, shooting at them is also incredibly dangerous and may unnecessarily jeopardize life and safety. These types of shots are high-risk and often ineffective. Faced with a moving target, officers can unintentionally strike passengers or bystanders with ricocheted or missed shots down range. Even striking the driver can potentially render a 3,500-4000-pound vehicle uncontrollable.
Not to mention police sometimes shoot at vehicles traveling away from them when there is not an imminent deadly threat. Moreover, some officers needlessly place themselves in the path of a moving vehicle or try reaching inside, precipitating the use of their weapons.
My research has found that departmental policy restrictions that use constraining language were associated with fewer police shootings at vehicles. Using a sample of the 100 largest municipal police departments in the United States, we analyzed use of force/firearms policies and the number of these types of police shootings in years 2015-2020 from the Gun Violence Archive. In comparing agencies, departments with policy language that limited the circumstances when officers could use their firearms in response to vehicular threats were less likely to have such types of shootings. These associations remained even after controlling for relevant factors like economic disadvantage and violent crime rates.
Police-citizen interactions are complex and dynamic. Yet, departmental policies can provide guidance to officers by providing clear language that defines risky decisions and constrains ineffective use of force. Of course, policies are simply words on a page if not reinforced through training, accountability, and overall organizational culture.
Reducing police shootings of citizens can seem like a daunting and herculean task, especially in a country awash with guns. But, these types of shootings are amenable to more restrictive departmental policies. More constraining policy language that limits if and when officers can shoot at vehicular threats may allow us to chip away at the more than 130 people shot by police each year in these circumstances.
We must do everything we can to prevent the next Kohen Wiley, Renée Good and Ta’Kiya Young.
This MFP Voices opinion essay reflects the personal opinion of its author(s). The column does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
