Minichan

"Suicide-by-cop" incidents where a person deliberately provokes Los Angeles Police Department officers to kill represent a "significant sub-set" of police shootings and may signal the need for more training, the department's inspector general says.

In a report to the Los Angeles Police Commission, Inspector General Alex Bustamante reviewed 35 cases in the past 30 months where people appeared to purposely provoke LAPD officers to shoot them.

The report does not include the total number of fatal LAPD shootings in that same time frame.

“This highlights the ongoing importance of training for police officers regarding suicide-by-cop incidents, and, more generally, for officers encountering emotionally-disturbed and/or mentally ill individuals,” Bustamante said.

The shootings spanned a 30 month-period ending in June 2013 and involved cases in which officers were determined to have acted lawfully and within department policy when they killed the person.

In one case, a man called 911 to report a possible robbery at a fast food restaurant and provided a description of the man. But there was no robbery and the description he provided was of himself. After fatally shooting the man during a confrontation, police found the man had taped an air pistol to his hand and written a suicide note.