172 Californians Died In Encounters With Police In 2017

CALIFORNIA -- At least 172 California civilians who encountered police in 2017 were killed, according to a report released this week by the state Department of Justice. In its annual criminal justice reports, Attorney General Xavier Becerra's staff detail police encounters, hate crimes and homicides in California during 2017.

The Use of Force Incident Report found 741 civilians had encounters with police involving use of force. Of the 741 civilians, 441 were injured, 120 were not injured and 172 died.

In those cases, officers believed 454 civilians were armed and 349 were confirmed to be armed, the report said. Also in those cases, 325 were Hispanic civilians, 224 were white civilians and 143 were black civilians.

The reports are released annually as required by state law. The state Department of Justice doesn't track how many calls to police were received in 2017.

“Transparency, trust, and communication are the pillars of safe communities,” Becerra said in a press release. “In order to build safe and prosperous communities, we need to know the facts. That’s why this data is crucial to creating smart policies that ensure public safety throughout our state."

Other statistics found in the reports include:

• The violent crime rate per 100,000 population increased 1.5 percent from 2016-2017 while the property crime rate decreased 2.1 percent
• Hate crime events over the last year increased 17.4 percent, from 931 in 2016 to 1,093 in 2017
• Hate crime events involving a racial bias over the last year increased 16.0 percent, from 519 in 2016 to 602 in 2017
• The annual homicide rate decreased in 2017 (from 4.9 to 4.6 homicides per 100,000 population), for a total of 1,829 homicides in 2017 compared to 1,930 in 2016

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