Maricopa County projected to have lowest officer-involved shootings since 2010
May 25, 2016, 4:38 PM
PHOENIX — Maricopa County may be on its way to having the lowest number of officer-involved shootings since 2010, according to County Attorney Bill Montgomery.
There have been 14 officer shootings in Maricopa County so far this year. There were 31 in 2010.
“We’re averaging about three [officer shootings] a month,” he said. “If the trend were to continue, that would bring us to about 35 for the year.”
Montgomery said his office is committed to pursing criminals who intentionally target police officers, as well as investigating officers who may abuse their power.
“We want to see circumstances in which there is not a violent altercation, nor do we want to see a continuation of some of the incidents that we’ve seen over the last two weeks, where law enforcement officers have become targets,” said Montgomery.
The county attorney was likely alluding to Phoenix police officer David Glasser, who was shot and killed by a suspect last week.
Montgomery described current altercations between subjects and officers as a two-sided coin.
“In some cases, we’re seeing the level of violence in interactions between subjects and law enforcement increasing,” he said. “That’s one side of the coin. The other side of the coin too, that the community needs to realize, is that those instances in which we have police officers that are violating that trust and violating their oath are few and far between.”
KTAR’s Martha Maurer contributed to this story.