Hazards of police firearm: accidental and mistaken discharges

A recent study analyzed 843 incidents where police personnel within the United States and Canada discharged their firearms, typically while facing a lethal threat (Parent, 2004). In 417 of these incidents, police personnel killed a total of 419 people. The remaining cases that were examined reflect firearm discharges that resulted in the wounding or non-injury of an individual. One of the interesting findings of this study is that in roughly eight percent of the cases examined (69 incidents) police personnel either accidentallv or mistakenly discharged their firearm. This number is believed to be higher as some of the police agencies likely did not disclose all of their accidental and mistaken discharges within their reporting.