When Police Shoot
Documentary
Shots Fired
Amid record police shootings in Utah, FRONTLINE and The Salt Lake Tribune investigate the use of deadly force in the state.
November 23, 2021
Police across Utah shot at 30 people two years ago. And then in 2020, the state tied that record. With no government entity collecting such data, The Salt Lake Tribune will expand its own data gathering on police shootings.
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All Stories in When Police Shoot
Article
Utah Police Shootings Often Involve a Person in a Mental Health Crisis. Here is How Law Enforcement and Advocates Respond.
A new Salt Lake Tribune data analysis shows that at least 42% of police shootings in the past decade involve a person in crisis or who is suicidal.
December 29, 2021
Article
The ‘21-Foot Rule’: How a Controversial Training for Police is Used to Justify Shootings
The 21-foot rule is taught to police across the U.S. and officers use it to explain why they shot at someone. But it's not based on science or the law. And some national policing leaders argue it shouldn’t be taught…
December 6, 2021
Article
A Rare Look Inside Police Training in Utah
How might police training impact whom, when and why officers shoot? Watch an excerpt from the new FRONTLINE/Salt Lake Tribune documentary “Shots Fired.”
November 23, 2021
Article
Is the Fear Factor Overblown in Police Shootings?
Utah’s police training has been questioned for focusing on worst-case scenarios.
November 22, 2021
Announcement
New Documentary, ‘Shots Fired,’ Investigates Police Shootings in Utah
With police shootings in Utah reaching record highs amid a nationwide debate over police accountability, FRONTLINE and The Salt Lake Tribune present "Shots Fired": the first nationally broadcast documentary stemming from FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative
November 18, 2021
Documentary
Shots Fired
Amid record police shootings in Utah, FRONTLINE and The Salt Lake Tribune investigate the use of deadly force in the state.
November 23, 2021
Article
Shooting Not to Kill. This Utah Case Fuels a Debate That Frustrates Police.
If there’s nothing barring officers from shooting someone in the leg or arm, it raises a question many civilians wonder about: Why don’t officers, if possible, shoot a suspect there, instead of in the chest or head? It’s a question…
October 18, 2021
Article
What Utah Police Can Do to Reduce the Times They Shoot at Minorities
A decade of data clearly shows police in Utah disproportionately shoot at racial and ethnic minorities. What isn’t so clear is what to do about it.
September 22, 2021
Article
New Data on Utah Police Shootings and Race Called ‘Extremely Uncomfortable,’ ‘Disappointing’
Racial and ethnic minorities account for a third of the people shot at by Utah police over the past decade — despite these groups making up just a quarter of the population.
September 20, 2021
Article
Why Utah Police Can Be Forced to Explain a Shooting and How Those Interviews Can Become Public
Police chiefs can force officers to talk after a police shooting, and those interviews — while they can’t be used in criminal proceedings against officers — may become public.
August 6, 2021
Article
Utah Couple Say Internal Police Interview Contradicts Cottonwood Heights on Shooting Death of Son
The new revelations are part of the family’s civil suit. But prosecutors can’t use the information in a criminal investigation.
August 5, 2021
Article
A Utah Prosecutor Says New Self-Defense Law Makes It Harder to Charge Problematic Police Officers
Reacting to calls for police reform, some states have made it easier for prosecutors to criminally charge officers accused of using deadly force when they shouldn’t have. Utah, on the other hand, made it harder.
August 2, 2021
Article
‘A disturbing shooting’: Salt Lake County district attorney says officer was justified in killing handcuffed man
An exasperated district attorney tried to get two points across at a Thursday news conference. The first is that as the law is currently written, Longman’s shooting was justified. The second is that Gill thinks the law should be changed.
July 23, 2021
Article
Most Never Shoot at Someone, but These 38 Utah Officers Have Pulled the Trigger Multiple Times
The Salt Lake Tribune and FRONTLINE reporters relied on police records and news reports to document each time a Utah officer fired his or her weapon from 2004 to 2020, tracking 318 shootings.
July 13, 2021
Article
VIDEO: A Utah Police Officer Killed a Man Inside the Police Department. It Was His Third Shooting.
A West Valley City police sergeant killed Michael Chad Breinholt nearly two years ago, but the district attorney still hasn’t said whether the shooting was justified.
July 12, 2021
Article
Their Brother Catalyzed a Movement in Utah Last Year. Now Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal’s Siblings Just Want Relief.
Last summer, activists in Utah chanted Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal’s name alongside George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
May 28, 2021
Article
The Tension Between Border Town Police and Navajos is Real. And These People are Trying to Change That.
Research traces the conflict between Navajo Nation members and border town police back to the 1840s, when white settlers began occupying areas of Navajo land. These outcroppings became the border towns of today.
March 1, 2021
Article
A Desert Shootout Spills Into Utah, Leaving One Man Dead and a Sergeant Facing Charges
A Colorado sheriff’s sergeant chased a car into Navajo Nation land in Utah and killed a man. Feds in Utah said the fatal shots were justified, but Colorado state prosecutors are now pressing charges tied to the shootout.
March 1, 2021
Article
Utah Attorney General’s Office ‘Surprised’ Police Shot at So Many People in 2020
The Salt Lake Tribune and FRONTLINE collaborate to investigate police shootings after Utah fails to collect data.
January 10, 2021
Article
‘Constant Breaking of Your Heart:’ How Utah Police Respond to Mental Health Crises
Police shootings in Utah often involve someone who is suicidal or in a mental health crisis.
January 9, 2021
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