NYPD Officers Fired Their Weapons Less Last Year Than Any Year Since 1971

Last year, police officers fired their guns the least number of times and shot and killed the smallest number of people since 1970, NYPD officials said. Cops shot and killed eight people last year, compared to 93 in 1971. They wounded 16, compared to 221 in 1971. Officers fired their weapons just 92 times last year.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly credited "training, restraint and crime reduction."

"Of the 92 firearms discharge incidents in 2010, 33 were intentional discharges that occurred during an adversarial conflict with a suspect, 30 involved an animal attack, 21 were unintentional discharges and 8 involved the unauthorized use of a firearm," police said.

The low numbers are particularly impressive since Police officers responded to more than 200,000 reports of weapons, and arrested 29,000 armed individuals.

The numbers were part of the NYPD annual Firearms Discharge Report, which is available here.