Although the officer who shot him was cleared of wrongdoing, it was revealed that he had been involved in eight prior shootings. Police Commissioner subsequently set up a monitoring system for officers involved in three or more shootings. Throughout the USA people are being injured and even killed by police using excessive force or deliberately brutal treatment. Police officers are punching, kicking, beating and shooting people who pose no threat, or are causing serious injuries, and sometimes death, by misusing restraints, chemical sprays or electro-shock weapons. Most reported incidents take place during arrest, searches, traffic stops or in street incidents.
Every year there are thousands of reports of assault and ill-treatment by police officers.
Inquiries into some of the largest urban police departments have uncovered systematic brutality. It is difficult to assess the true extent of police brutality because there is no reliable national data. Since 1994 the federal government has been legally required to collect national data on police excessive use of force, but Congress has failed to provide the necessary funding. More than 17,000 police agencies operate in the USA, each with its own code of practice and methods of recording and investigating abuses. Most US police departments have strict guidelines on the use of deadly force, and international standards state that force should be used only as a last resort, proportionate to the threat and designed to minimise injury.