NYPD report shows officers fired their weapons more in 2021, but fatally shot fewer people

New York City police officers shot more people in 2021 than they did in the previous year, but fewer people died, according to the NYPD’s latest use of force report.

The report shows that police officers shot 21 people in 2021, six fatally, marking a major drop from 16 deadly shootings in 2012. The report said 95% of people that police shot at — including those who were not hit — were Black or Latino.

Instances in which police shot someone who did not die have ebbed and flowed during the last decade. Between 2020 and 2021 they nearly quadrupled, from four to 15. Data is not yet available for 2022.

“There’s always room for improvement,” said Peter Moskos, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former police officer. “If you don’t sort of work to improve, you’re probably going to go backward.”

The NYPD declined to comment on the report and would not say when it expects to publish its 2022 report.

The report also highlights a major drop in officers’ shooting accuracy in recent years. The NYPD tracks what it calls the “objective completion rate,” which is the percentage of firearm discharges that “ultimately stops the threat.” That number was 53% in 2021, up slightly from 48% in 2020. Those rates mark a stark decrease from 2016-2019, when the percentage ranged from 83% to 96%.

“Due to the nature of an adversarial conflict, using a two-handed grip, standing, and carefully aligning a firearm’s sights on the target are not always practical in the midst of such an incident,” the report stated.

But Moskos said he was surprised by the low rates after better training increased officers’ shooting accuracy in years prior.

“I didn’t think there was going to be any change there,” he said.

Racial disparities in use of force

Nearly all the people that police shot at in 2021 were people of color — 47.5% were Black and 47.5% were Latino. Just 5% were white. Meanwhile, 40% of…