Deadly police encounters in California left 163 dead in 2016

LOS ANGELES - The first statewide tally of police use-of-force incidents in California found 157 civilians and six officers were killed during violent encounters last year.

The report issued Thursday by the state attorney general's office is a compilation of data supplied by all 800 police departments in the state and includes demographic information on the civilians and officers, the type of call that led to the violence, and the officers' justification for using force.

WHAT THE REPORT SHOWS

The departments reported 782 incidents that resulted in serious injury or death, or when a firearm was discharged. Those cases involved 832 civilians and about 19 percent, or 157, of those people were killed.

RACIAL BREAKDOWN

Forty-two percent of civilians who were involved in the incidents were Hispanic, 30 percent were white and 20 percent were black. More than 50 percent of the officers involved were white, the report said.

MOST INCIDENTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY

More than a quarter of the violent encounters - 210 - occurred in Los Angeles County, which is home to a similar percentage of California's nearly 40 million residents. Los Angeles police reported 81 incidents and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department logged 56 incidents.

Among counties, San Bernardino had the second-most incidents, 71, followed by Riverside (59), Orange (58), San Diego (49), Kern (36), Contra Costa (26), Fresno (25), Santa Clara (24) and Alameda (20).

WHAT THE REPORT DOESN'T DETAIL

The report includes the racial breakdown on the 832 people involved in the incidents but does not distinguish which were killed. The report also does not specifically detail how many of those fatal incidents were initiated by police or the result of a call summoning officers.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the report did not include those figures.

WHY WAS THE REPORT CREATED?

Under a bill passed by the Legislature, police departments in California are required to report any use of force that causes "serious injuries." Though some departments already tracked such data on their own, many did not.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER STATES?

Few other states collect such comprehensive data. Texas requires the attorney general to track statistics on officer-caused and officer-sustained injuries and deaths. Colorado requires every police shooting be reported, and Connecticut tracks every incident of serious force, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.