ainst whom the charge is being brought" (Lacayo, 1991, p.20) The statistics that do exist show police brutality to be increasing in some cities and decreasing in others. For example, a declining number of complaints have been reported in New York City (2,366 in 1990, compared to 2,885 in 1988); and, despite the Rodney King incident, Los Angeles (672 in 1990, compared to 851 in 1988)(Gest, 1991, p.24). On the other hand, increased complaints of police violence have been reported in Miami (111 in 1990, compared to 67 in 1985); Washington, D.C. (415 in 1990, compared to 299 in 1985); and Chicago (2,476 in 1990, compared to 2,084 in 1985)(Prudhomme, 1991, p.17). The implications of these increased figures are controversial. For example, it has been noted that "experts seem divided over whether instances of police brutality are actually rising nationwide or whether the number of complaints has increased because of greater public awareness" (p.17).
One form of violence which is not subject to debate, however, is the number of police shootings which take place each year. In contrast to allegations of beatings or records of complaints, shootings provide clear evidence in the form of fatalities or wounds. The figures on police shootings show a dramatic increase in most American cities. For example, although New York has shown an overall decline in citizen complaints, and although that city's police must follow strict guidelines regarding the use of guns, the number of New York citizens shot by police leaped from 68 in 1988 to 108 in 1991 (Lacayo, 1991, p. 20).
Despite these figures, Ted Gest, in U.S. News & World Report, has claimed that occurrences of brutality are relatively rare considering the number of incidents that the police must handle every day. Using the Kansas City police department as a typical example, Gest notes that there were only 108 complaints of excessive force there in 1990, even though "the department recei...