Police Fired Fewer Bullets in '07

New York cops were less trigger happy in 2007 than 2006, according to the NYPD's annual firearms discharge report. In fact, last year police fired the fewest number of times since the department started keeping track in the '70s. In 2007 there were 111 incidents in which police discharged their firearms, including shots fired at animals, in suicide attempts, accidents and at suspects. (That number was down from 127 in 2006 and 253 in 1998.) But the report might give some the impression that this restraint is endangering officers, because the number of cops shot and injured in gunfights rose last year, to seven officers injured and three killed, including two unarmed auxiliary officers. And perhaps due to pressure from the NYCLU, this year's report also gives a racial breakdown of the shootings.