Background: Between 1987 and 1997, over 500 deaths in Los Angeles County were caused by officer-involved shootings (OIS). Since the Coroner’s office routinely performs toxicology screenings on all OIS cases, drug use among this population can be studied without selection bias. Methods: Lists of potential OIS cases were collected from the Los Angeles County District Attorney, The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and The Los Angeles Police Department. Coroner’s reports were obtained for these cases, which were then used to abstract toxicology data and other information of interest. Results: During the 11 years of the study, there were 517 coroner-confirmed deaths due to an OIS, an average of 47 deaths per year. The Coroner had usable toxicology information for 473 (92%) of these cases. For the 44 other OIS incidents, toxicology information was unavailable due to unreadable information (22 cases), death occurring more than 48 hours after the shooting incident (7 cases), missing toxicology information (5 cases), or other/unknown reasons (9 cases). Overall, 306 (65%) of the cases had a positive toxicology result for at least one drug. Among the cases who tested positive, 86 were positive for two drugs and 12 were positive for three. Ethanol, present in 44% of OIS cases, was the most common drug. About one quarter of the cases were positive for cocaine, and methamphetamine and PCP were each found in 8% of the cases. The analysis of this data is continuing, and further results and recommendations will be presented at the APHA conference.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to: 1) identify drugs that are frequently associated with officer involved shootings; 2) describe any changes over time in patterns of drug use related to officer involved shootings; and 3) describe other factors that were found to be associated with drug use among this population
Keywords: Drug Use,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.