Deadly Assets (Badge of Honor 12)

She doesn’t look like she’s trying to corner me, he thought.

But she knows the proper terminology. Better be careful, Matty . . .

“Fair question, for which I have a fair answer. Let me say, first of all, Honor, Integrity, Service—that’s our police department’s motto. I believe devoutly in it. I took my oath to protect the city, protect its residents, and uphold the law and the United States Constitution. To do that, you have to embrace honor and integrity and service.”

He saw nodding in the crowd.

“An Officer-Involved Shooting, or OIS,” he went on, “is when a police officer, either on duty or off, discharges his or her firearm, either intentionally or accidentally. Each year, among our seven thousand–plus officers, there’s an average of fifty Officer-Involved Shootings, with about ten of those resulting in the officer killing the bad guy. It’s important to note that every OIS death in the last decade has been found to be righteous.”

“Righteous?” a male, who looked, and sounded, like he was of Polish stock, asked.

Payne remembered him as one of the six whose hands remained up when he asked if anyone had been a crime victim.

“Justifiable,” Payne said. “Proper.”

“Then the bastard had it coming!” the male blurted.

“Kuba!” the olive-skinned female next to him said.

“If you’ll forgive my French, sir,” Kuba added, smiling.

Payne forced back a grin.

“Everyone makes choices, and some are fatal ones,” he said. “Okay, so fifty Officer-Involved Shootings is a very low number considering (a) that there’re every day about ten thousand calls to nine-one-one asking for police assistance and (b) that the bad guys are quick to wave weapons when police arrive on the scene.”

“That’s what happened to me,” Kuba said. “The bastard . . . sorry . . . the bad guy robbed me at gunpoint when I was waiting for a SEPTA bus in West Philly.”

“You didn’t get hurt?” Payne said.

“No, sir,” Kuba said, shaking his head. He glanced at Andy Radcliffe and added, “Luckily.”

Andy acknowledged that with a nod.

“You were lucky,” Payne said, paused for a moment, then went on: “All right, so after an OIS, the case gets sent to the district attorney’s office to determine that the shooting was within the framework of Pennsylvania state law. There’s also a police department investigation, one separate from the DA’s and conducted by the Use of Force Review Board following the DA’s decision. The Use of Force Review Board is made up of department heavy hitters—the deputy commissioners from Patrol Operations, Office of Professional Responsibility, Organizational Services, and Major Investigations. They determine whether or not department procedures and policies were followed and if there should be disciplinary charges, or maybe training, or even changing department policies.”

“What about CPOC?” a male who looked to be of Asian descent said.

Payne looked at him, nodded, then addressed the group: “Everyone familiar with the Citizens Police Oversight Committee? It’s exactly as its name suggests. Made up of five citizens appointed to represent all citizens, CPOC offers valuable suggestions to the police department, generally through the city council. Its members, who are not sworn officers or prosecutors, are not able to make professional investigations of an OIS, or for that matter any other official activity in the department.”

After a moment, the dark-haired woman raised her hand again.

“So,” she said, “you’re saying that’s ten bad guys killed by an officer each year in Philly? When the overall murder rate averages one a day? I don’t mean any offense by this, either, but it’s remarkable you haven’t shot more than you have, Sergeant Payne.”

Payne looked at her a moment, then noticed everyone’s eyes on him.

Here it comes, Matty ol’ boy—that sounds uncomfortably close to the impossible-to-answer question of: “So, sir, have you stopped beating your wife?”

“Yes! I mean, no! I mean . . .”

He avoided answering by digging into his coat pocket. He produced some folded sheets of paper, flipped to the second one, and handed it to Andy Radcliffe.

“This is the most recent Philadelphia Murder/Shooting Analysis,” Payne announced. “Andy, how about you read the intro, and I’ll then get into the numbers.”

Andy looked at the sheet, then cleared his throat, and began: “‘The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program establishes all guidelines and procedures for the submission of crime data to the State Police UCR. Murders are counted at the time Homicide investigators determine that, after investigation, there in fact has been an intentional killing of a human being by another. Clearances of murders occur when at least one person suspected of committing the murder is taken into police custody for prosecution. Clearance rates are determined by taking the total number of murder clearances for the year and dividing that number into the number of murders counted for that same period. Clearance rates are currently averaging fifty percent.’”

He looked up at Payne, who then looked at the group.

“Any questions about that?” Payne said.