DATE: Saturday, June 21, 1997               TAG: 9706210006

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

DEADLY FORCE CAUSE FOR CONCERN

Last Sunday morning two Virginia Beach police officers were involved in the shooting death of a 19-year-old man. Preliminary police reports show the man was armed with three kitchen knives. Witnesses have said he lunged at and threatened the officers before they fired their weapons.

Bryan E. Dugan was the seventh person to be shot by police at the Beach in the past 18 months. He was the second person to be fatally wounded this year.

Armed force by police officers is a necessary part of their job. Knowing when to use lethal force and when to incapacitate violent or erratic suspects is a crucial part of police training.

According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, Virginia Beach police officers are using deadly force more frequently than their counterparts across the nation. That's cause for concern.

The latest government figures show that reported incidents of police shootings that resulted in a fatality occurred at a rate of 0.9 people for every 1,000 sworn officers per year. Shootings that wound but do not kill a suspect occur just 0.2 times for every 1,000 officers. Virginia Beach has 700 sworn officers. In 1996 there were five shootings by police officers. With two fatalities already in 1997, the Beach police have used deadly force more often than the average city police department.

A blip is not a trend, and drawing conclusions from a small statistical universe is dangerous. Still, the relatively frequent use of force in a relatively low crime city raises two important questions: Are Virginia Beach police officers adequately trained in alternatives to deadly force?

Secondly, are police shootings adequately and fairly investigated?

Three investigations are pending in each of the latest two shootings: one by the police professional standards office (formerly internal affairs), another by the police homicide unit and a third by the Commonwealth's Attorney's office.

All of these investigations constitute oversight of local law enforcement by the local law enforcement establishment. Many jurisdictions require an independent look at incidents in which police use deadly force. All police shootings in North Carolina are investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation.

Many cities rely on automatic oversight by a citizens' review panel that conducts independent investigations into every shooting. This procedure strikes us as having merit, removing any hint of suspicion that law-enforcement investigators are inclined to view favorably actions taken by law-enforcement officers.

Virginia Beach has in place an Investigation Review Panel, composed of five citizen members and two alternates, appointed by the city manager. This citizens' panel is empowered to investigate alleged police misconduct, but only if a request is made after official investigations are complete and reports are filed.

So far, the panel has never been asked to look into a police shooting but the panel could be asked to routinely investigate all shootings.

The recent police shootings are alarming - for what they say about the increasing violence in our society, the lack of respect for uniformed police officers and the increased use of deadly force at the Beach. The resort culture of Virginia Beach poses some unique challenges for law enforcement. During the summer months more than one million visitors pass through the city and police respond to more than 1,000 calls a day.

No one wants to second guess police officers who make life and death decisions - all while carrying firearms and trying to protect themselves and law-abiding citizens.

But, to reassure the public, an independent mechanism for affirming the use of deadly force by police could be useful. Luckily, such a body already exists - a citizen's panel with no connention to law enforcement.

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