Police officers brandished or fired their guns 54 times in 2002, well up from 26 the previous year and marking the highest number of such incidents in five years, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
Officers fired their guns in 30 cases, killing two people and injuring nine, and pointed their guns at suspects in the remaining 24 cases, according to an NPA report to the National Public Safety Commission.
The more than twofold increase in police use of firearms apparently reflects changes to the National Safety Commission guidelines. The guidelines took effect in December 2001 in response to a surge in the number of officers killed in the line of duty.
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