US police shootings of mentally ill surged in 2015: Report
More than one in three people the police in the US city of Los Angeles shot last year were mentally ill, an internal study by the police has found.
At least 14 of 38 Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) shootings that occurred last year involved an individual with documented signs of mental illness, the LAPD report stated.
“We did see a troubling increase with mental illness," said LAPD Capt. Greg McManus during his presentation of the report. “That’s an increase we are looking at.”
"There's things that I'm sure we're going to discover in this report; others will raise questions that we'll not have answers to that will cause us to dig deeper and to look further," Assistant Chief Michel Moore told the Los Angeles Times.
"At the end of the day, the instances in which we use force ... is extremely rare. But at the same time, each incident is one too many if it can be avoided," he added.
The figure is triple the number of such victims in 2014. The study also shows 69 percent of those shot were Latinos and African Americans.
US police have triggered huge criticism and mass protests by fatal shootings of unarmed people, especially African Americans and in some cases mentally ill people.
Protesters have been calling for transparency and holding of those responsible to account. The LAPD report provides rare transparency on the shooting victims.
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