Recommendations

Recommendation 30.1

The FPC should recommit to the annual report on MPD firearms discharges.

Current:

In 2016, after filling the long-vacant Research & Policy Analyst position, the value of the Firearm Discharge report was discussed internally.  There were a number of reports that were not produced during the time without an Executive Director and Research & Policy Analyst, and because the substantive content of the Firearm Discharge Reports was also included in the Use of Force reports, and because the Use of Force Reports continued to be up to date due to the fact that it is produced by a third party, it was decided to place the Firearm Discharge Reporting as the lowest priority as the FPC brought their other reporting products up to date. 

As other reporting was brought up to date, FPC staff revisited the topic of the Firearm Discharge Reports.  One issue that was identified, especially in light of the controversial incident in Red Arrow Park, was that the previous Firearm Discharge Reports that the FPC had produced (2011 and 2012) may be viewed as “one-sided” in the pubic since the information contained was exclusively from Police Department produced documents. 

The further development of outside agency investigation and reporting of officer-involved fatal shootings gave the FPC additional reason to consider the relatively low cost/benefit ratio for the production of future Firearm Discharge reports in their previous form. 

Future:

In concert with recommendation 30.2, the FPC would be interested to hear the community's thoughts on the value of the Firearm Discharge Report, and how this report could be updated or expanded to fill gaps in the public's understanding of these incidents.