More police officers have been charged over civilian killings in 2015 than at any time in the last decade

Twelve police officers have been charged with a crime this year stemming from fatal encounters with civilians while on duty.That's a record that stretches back at least 10 years, according to research compiled by Bowling Green State University criminal justice professor, Philip Stinsonan ex-cop whose data was cited by the Wall Street Journal.The annual average number of law-enforcement prosecutions over that time period is five.There's little doubt about what contributed to theincrease in prosecutions. Police killings in the last several years have been the subject of intense media and political scrutiny.And with civil rights groups pointing to a specific trend in these deathsthat they often involve unarmed people of color it's not hard to understand why an increase in police prosecutions has occurred.Protests following police-involved deaths in Ferguson, Missouri, Staten Island, New York and Baltimore, Maryland have cracked the veneer of innocence oftenafforded by the police badge, leading to more prosecutions of law enforcement officers.But more court trials do not necessarily lead to more convictions. Retired San Francisco Bay area district attorney Tom Orloff explained it this way in The Journal: "most jurors have the idea the cops are out to do the best job they can."Put another way, the prevailing notion in these matters is often the same; if the police use deadly force while performing their duties, it was probably necessary.Some have argued the oppositeasserting that police have been too quick to react with deadly force. That argument could be punctuated by the Washington Post'sreport on theseveral hundred people who have been shot dead by policethis year alone.Despite the increased number of police officers tried in court for on-duty killings, "no single officer has been convicted of murder or manslaughter this year," the WSJ reports.Several high-profile cases have been talked about of late, including that of former Charleston, South Carolina police officer, Michael Slager. Slager was denied bond earlier this month as he waits for his murder trial to begin. He's accused of fatally shooting an unarmed man named Walter Scott, who was running away from Slager during an encounter in April.Six officers in Baltimore will face separate trials over the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a medical emergency that severed his spine 80% at his neck while he was in police custody.A handful of similar cases are pending.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Police in Colombia just seized $240 million worth of cocaine
Click here to read full news..