D.C. police top list of fatal shootings 'We shoot too often' November 15, 1998 Web posted at: 8:54 p.m. EST (0154 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police in the nation's capital fire their weapons at a rate more than double those in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Miami and kill a higher proportion of people than comparable police forces elsewhere in the country. An investigation by The Washington Post showed that throughout the 1990s, more people were killed by District of Columbia police officers per resident than in any other large American city. "We shoot too often, and we shoot too much when we do shoot," Terrance W. Gainer, the executive assistant police chief, told the newspaper. In the last five years, the Post said, Washington's officers fatally shot 57 people, three more than police in Chicago, where the police force is three times as large and the population is five times larger. Deaths and injuries from police shootings have resulted in almost $8 million in court settlements and judgments against the district in the last six months, the report said. "The spate of police shootings in the district this decade is closely tied to the training and supervision of officers and the way the department investigates cases and holds officers accountable," the newspaper said. It said police shootings began to rise at the same time the department added a large number of new, ill-prepared recruits and adopted the light-trigger, highly advanced Glock 9 mm handgun as the department's service weapon. On the other side of the coin, eight district police officers were slain in Washington from 1990 to 1997, a number the Post said was surpassed in only a half-dozen other U.S. cities, each much bigger than the district. After meeting last week with Post reporters to discuss their findings, Police Chief Charles Ramsey, who took office this year, tightened the department's policy on using force. He also announced that in January, the department will begin additional training for all officers in firearms and alternatives to the use of deadly force. Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.