CALIFORNIA – California law enforcement officers killed fewer people, fired fewer shots, and used force less often in 2024 than in any year since the state began tracking the data nearly a decade ago, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle using Department of Justice statistics.
The Chronicle’s review covered data from 2016 to 2024. It found a 13 percent decline in the number of people killed by officers in the past year, down from 134 in 2023. The Department of Justice also reported a 32 percent drop in murders between 2017 and 2020. For the first time since 2016, no California police officer deaths resulted from use-of-force incidents, the DOJ said.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber told the Chronicle, “It’s a calmer California.” During her time in the State Assembly, she sponsored legislation to address racial profiling and reduce deadly encounters. She added, “There’s still so much to do. But I think it indicates in some way that when we make up our mind that we want to bring about change, we can.”
The Chronicle cited a Washington Post database that recorded 111 fatal shootings in California in 2024, the lowest since the Post began tracking in 2015, when state law enforcement fatally shot 190 people.
According to the Chronicle, the state Justice Department gathers its statistics from law enforcement agencies and “does not collect the entire universe of” use-of-force incidents. Nonetheless, the Chronicle reported that multiple data sources point to the same trend: police violence in California is declining.
Samuel Sinyangwe, founder of Mapping Police Violence and a Stanford graduate, told the Chronicle, “Since 2020 and the murder of George Floyd… there’s been a divergence or a gap opening up between more progressive or blue states and red states.” He said, “California is leading that trend… the opposite is happening in Texas.”
Sinyangwe attributed California’s decline to a “layered approach” of legislative reforms, including the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (AB 953), AB 392, SB 230, and AB 1506, which strengthened oversight and training requirements. “These are policies that are in many ways models for the nation,” he said.
Along with the decline in deaths, the DOJ reported low numbers of police officers who used force (1,190), officers who were shot at (155), and civilians who were armed (280).
The Chronicle highlighted a stark contrast with red states such as Texas and Florida. Texas recorded its deadliest year for police killings in 2024, with 168 deaths, a 113 percent increase from 2017 and a 79 percent increase from 2020. In Florida, police killings rose 82 percent after the Republican-led Legislature in 2021 expanded protections for drivers who hit protesters with cars.
The Chronicle emphasized that although blue states and urban areas have seen police killings decline, Mapping Police Violence data shows that 2024 was the deadliest year nationally for police violence, driven largely by increases in red states.
The Chronicle’s findings point to a clear divide: police killings are falling in blue states while rising sharply in red states, underscoring the influence of state policies and approaches to law enforcement.
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“The Chronicle’s findings point to a clear divide: police killings are falling in blue states while rising sharply in red states, underscoring the influence of state policies and approaches to law enforcement.”
Sounds like it’s time for the Greenwald Household to relocate to South Dakota. Your work is done here.
( a man can dream :-| )
I hear the weather in South Dakota is nice this time of the year.