. >> reporter: bowling green state university professor philip stinson has been researching that very question. his data show police fatally shoot more than 900 people every year. since 2005, 82 officers have been charged, but only 29 have been convicted. >> jurors are seemingly very reluctant to second guess the split-second, life-or-death decisions of on-duty police officers during potentially violent street encounters. >> please don't tell me he's dead. >> reporter: more importantly, the law is on the officer's side the moment they enter the courtroom based on a 1989 supreme court ruling that dictates how juries should deliberate. jury instructions like these state officers can use deadly force if they believe there is an imminent threat to themselves or others and use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene and not with 20/20 hindsight. >> he's got his hands up there for her now. >> reporter: though some officers lose their jobs, the objective is to avoid the court cases all together. ron hosko is the president of the law enforcement legal

. >> reporter: bowling green state university professor has been researching that very question. his data shows police fatally shoot more than 900 people every year. since 2005, 82 officers have been charged but only 29 have been convicted. >> jurors are seemingly very reluctant to second guess the split second life or death decisions of on duty police officers in violent street encounters. >> reporter: more importantly, stinson says the law is on the officers' side the moment they enter the courtroom based on a 1989 u.s. supreme court ruling that dictates how juries should deliberate. jury instructions like these state that officers can use deadly force if they believe there's an imminent threat to themselves or others and use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene and not with 20/20 hindsight. >> he's got his hands there now. >> reporter: though some officers lose their job the objective is to avoid the courthouse altogether. he says better deescalation training is needed. >> you know, not every occasion in america do we need an aggres

. >> bowling green state university professor, phillip stn question.is data shows police fatally shoot more than 900 people every year. since 2005, 8 officers have been charged but 29 convicted. >> jurors are seemingly very reluctant to second-guess the life and death street encounters. >> more importantly stinson says the law is on the officer's side the moment they enter the courtroom based on 1989 u.s. supreme court ruling that dictates how juries should deliberate. jury instructions like these in the trial state that officers can use deadly force if they belief there is an if nent threat to themselves or others. and, use of force, must be judged from the perspective of of a reasonable officer on the scene, and not with 20/20 hindsight. >> he has his hand there now. >> though some officers lose their jobs, the objective is to avoid the court cases altogether. the president of the law enforcement legal defense fund. he says, de-escalation training is needed. >> not every occasion in america, do we need an aggressive bulldog. or certainly a pit bull.

according to bowling green state university professor phillip stinson, about 900 to 1,000 people areatally shot by police officers in the united states every year but since 2005, just 29 local law enforcement officers have been convicted in on-duty shootings. we're joined right now by istorian ibram x. kendi, a professor of history and international relingtses and founding director of the anti-racist research and policy center at american university. he's the author of "stamped from the beginning, the definitive history of racist ideas in america wifment which is winner of the 2016 national book award. he recently wrote a piece for "the new york times" headlined "sacrificing black lives for the american lie." welcome to democracy now!, professor kennedyy. can you start off by responding to the latest indictment for the cover-up of the death of laquan mcdonald, three chicago police officers and then we'll talk about the acquittals and the mistrial. ibram: first of all, i think it's a good development for chicago, it's a good development for people seeking justice for mcdonald's death.

officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter for on-duty shootings, according to bowling green state universityinologist philip stinson. so far, 29 have been convicted, five of them for murder. yesterday, a jury found former milwaukee police officer dominique heaggan-brown not guilty of reckless homicide for shooting sylville smitth last august. in court, smith's family shouted and cursed. (shouting) body-camera video caught heaggan-brown's brief chase of smith. heaggan-brown's first shot came as smith appeared to throw a gun over a fence. a second shot hit smith in the chest. >> stop reaching. stop reaching. >> yang: he said he acted in self-defense. the shooting sparked two nights of riots. and police use of deadly force is under scrutiny again in seattle, where officers in shot and killed charleena lyles, a 30-year-old pregnant woman who had called police to report a burglary at her apartment sunday. she had two kitchen knives and, her family said, mental health problems. as protestors took to the streets, seattle police, which is investigating the incident, acknowledged the officers had "le

uc berkeley, and bowling green university in ohio was published in science magazine and is trying to answer that question. the research team looked at 700 gps sensors all over the statefornia. the information from 2006-2014 found that the number of earthquakes magnitude 2.0 and bigger slightly went up during the drier summer and fall months. >> what we find is during the winter months the weight of the snow accumulates in the mountain and is pushing the mountains down about a fraction of an inch. >> researchers say they don't have enough information to link the results to big earthquakes in the past like 1989 or the 2014 napa earthquake. scientists can't predict when the next big one might hit. >>> this winter's powerful storms did help ease the historic drought. but all that rain is also bad news for many beaches in northern california. the group healed the be issued its report and issued -- and found a record rainfall created billions of gallons of polluted runoff causing a spike in bacterial pollution at beaches in northern california. cal beach in santa cruz was rated the third dirtiest beaches the whole state. almost half of the 100 beaches are in a grade of c t