Utah Police Shootings Disproportionately Target People of Color
Despite making up only a quarter of the population, racial and ethinc minorities in Utah account for a third of police shootings.
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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, reports PBS. In contrast, 75.4 percent of Utahns are white, but they account for 63.5 percent of all police shootings. The disparity is the greatest among Black people. And the disparity grows wider when analyzing the weapon found on people. Half the 34 people shot at while carrying an edged weapon, like a knife, were racial or ethnic minorities, whereas white people were more likely to have a gun.
Between 2010 and 2020, police shot at 230 people in 226 separate confrontations. Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders are all shot at disproportionately to their populations in Utah. It’s the opposite for white people and Asians. The majority of white people shot at had guns or fake guns. The majority of racial and ethnic minorities didn’t. Police shot at more minorities than white people in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The trend reversed in 2020, however. That year, officers shot at 25 white people and five minorities.
