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After three officer-involved shootings on three consecutive days in late August, Los Angeles Police Commissioners publicly pressed Chief Jim McDonnell: What more can the department do to keep officers from opening fire? It’s a fair question — every police shooting demands scrutiny. But treating last month’s three-day cluster, or even an overall increase in shootings during a calendar year as we’re now seeing in 2025, as proof of a cultural problem misses both the long-term trend and the specific facts that determine whether any single use of force is reasonable.

Start with the trend line. In 1990, LAPD recorded 115 officer-involved shootings (OIS). Today, after decades of reform

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