Florida Sheriff Responds to High Number of Police Shootings

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --

This year's 25 police-involved shootings by officers in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has raised concerns in and around the city and also with the sheriff.

Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said the recent wave of police-involved shootings is reason for concern, and he told Channel 4 on Thursday why he is worried.

"I am very concerned about the number of incidents where police officers are having to defend themselves against firearms on the street," Rutherford said.

The sheriff recently received a letter from Mad Dads, a community group trying to work as a liaison with the sheriff's department and the community, asking about officers' use of deadly force.

The letter states, "We must ask you as chief law enforcement officer to ensure all officers use restraint. Deadly force must be used as a last resort or when officer's lives are without question being threatened."

"We know it concerns him, but the issue is reassuring the general public that he is concerned that he is taking the department in the direction and really looking at this and taking it very seriously," said Eddie Staton, of Mad Dads.

The statistics that are troubling for community group includes this year's 25 police-involved shootings. Twelve of the people shot by police have died, 21 of the 25 shot are black, four are white and two are women.

In six of the 25 cases, police were fired at. In all but three cases, weapons were found at the scenes.

In a case two weeks ago, an officer shot and killed 19-year-old Jerrick Hall. Police said Hall was burglarizing a house on the Westside, but witnesses said the teen was just running and he did not have a gun when he was shot.

The sheriff said he has talked to his officers about the high number of shootings and recently reminded them of the rules involved in using a gun.

"As the number goes up, you get a greater and greater likelihood that an officer may improperly use deadly force, and I wanted to impress with them that regardless of the number, whether it's one or four, we have to be right every time we pull that trigger," Rutherford said.

Mad Dads has asked the sheriff to open up the reviews of police shootings to outside agencies and form a citizens review board; however, the sheriff said he does not agree with that idea because he believes it would cause more problems than solutions.

In 2007, there were 19 officer-involved shootings in Jacksonville.

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