Panel Affirms Its Approval of Hollow-Point Bullet Use

Despite entreaties from community and civil rights organizations, the Police Commission Tuesday refused to reconsider its decision allowing the Los Angeles Police Department to use hollow-point bullets on a trial basis.

Commission President Robert Talcott, while acknowledging that the issue would likely trigger an “emotional response,” said the decision was in the best interests of public and officer safety and said the commission would not reopen public hearings on the matter.

“All innovative programs in the Police Department are subject to constant review; there is nothing set in concrete,” Talcott said. “If, after an appropriate period of time we feel this ammunition is not doing the job, we will change it. But we will continue with the authorization we have previously given.”

The commission also solicited any “new and different” information that might affect its decision and said it would review “each and every shot fired using the (hollow-point) bullet.”

The commission unanimously authorized use of the ammunition in a one-year trial at its May 31 meeting without hearing from opponents. The opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Coalition Against Police Abuse and other community groups, argue that the bullets--which flatten and expand on impact--cause more serious injuries and are more likely to prove fatal than standard ammunition. Opponents also contend that they were given inadequate notice of the May 31 public hearing.

“It is no secret that accidental and wrongful shootings happen too often in Los Angeles, victimizing adults and children who are guilty of only being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said David Lynn, coordinator of the Police Misconduct Lawyers Referral Service, a California State Bar-certified organization that provides referral services throughout Southern California. “With the hollow-point bullet in the chambers of LAPD guns, there will be no room for error and no second chances.”

“We only received the commission agenda late on the 31st, which was hardly enough time to put together a reasonable case in opposition,” said ACLU spokesman Joel R. Maliniak. “Advance notice on a life-or-death issue like this is an absolute necessity.”

In making its decision, the commission relied on a report prepared by the Police Department that rebuts arguments that the hollow-point bullet is more deadly than solid bullets. LAPD officials maintain that the bullet--already used by most metropolitan law enforcement agencies throughout the country--is less likely to pass through its target, reducing the risks of injury from ricochets.

The study of officer-involved shootings by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which uses hollow-point bullets, and the LAPD conclude that standard .38-caliber and 9-millimeter ammunition poses a “significant safety hazard to police officers as well as the general public.”

Between June, 1986, and December, 1987, the LAPD recorded a total of 163 bullet hits, of which 50% passed through the subject, while the Sheriff’s Department recorded 201 hits, of which only 9% passed through the subject, according to the report. Thirty-seven percent of suspects died from wounds inflicted by LAPD officers during the period, while the percentage for the Sheriff’s Department was 36%.

LAPD officials have recommended that the Remington .38 special semi-jacketed and 9-millimeter Luger-Remington ammunition be used in its two standard weapons. Use of the hollow-point bullets will be optional during the trial period, said Police Cmdr. William Booth.

Dick Dietz, a spokesman for the Remington Arms Co. of Wilmington, Del., said the bullets are preferred by police because they are more likely to disable a suspect.

Dietz said the hollow slug flattens on impact, expands more rapidly and is “more likely to transfer a greater amount of its energy to its subject” than solid bullets. “The purpose . . . is to give police firepower that is more equivalent to what they might encounter from criminals, who now pack everything, including military-style weapons,” he said.