A cache of information about police shootings in Philadelphia is being used to look at trends in the department's use of deadly force, reports Philly.com. The police department posted the data this month. The dataset includes all shooting incidents since 2007. Each entry contains a bare-bones summary of a particular shooting but does not name the involved officers or their targets Last November, the department released information for 2012 and 2013. “It's great,” said Kelvyn Anderson, executive director of the city's Police Advisory Commission. “It's a very good beginning that gives us a large scope of police shooting activity to consider.”
Philly.com reported earlier that the number of officer-involved shootings in 2012 had jumped nearly 50 percent to reach the highest point in nearly a decade despite a decline in violence and assaults on officers. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey asked the U.S. Department of Justice to review his department’s policies and practices. The review is due to be published this year. Previous DOJ reviews of other departments have stressed the need for greater transparency.