NYPD shootings data

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU, which I believe is the ACLU's NY affiliate) has made available the NYPD's Firearms Discharge reports from 1996 through 2006 on the NYCLU website.

The reports are available here.

In typical fashion, NYCLU decries the lack of white people shot by NYPD, claiming that "[d]uring the last two years the NYPD reported the race of those shot by police, nearly 90 percent of the people shot at by officers were black or Latino." NYPD evidently stopped reporting the race of subjects shot (or shot at) back in 1998. Gee, I wonder why.

I'm no apologist for the NYPD or its leadership, but looking solely at the races of the subjects shot doesn't seem to relate the whole picture as to whether or not some form of invidious discrimination by NYPD is occurring. Seems like you would also need to compare the likelihood of whites getting shot (or shot at) under circumstances similar to those where non-whites are shot, before you can declare that there's a real problem.