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AP finally nixes ‘officer-involved shooting’
In a long-overdue move, the Associated Press advised reporters to stop parroting this stock phrase of police PR
The AP Stylebook today released new guidance for reporters covering police shootings. The official Twitter account of the nation’s most commonly used language manual for journalists tweeted: “Avoid the vague ‘officer-involved’ for shootings and other cases involving police. Be specific about what happened. If police use the term, ask: How was the officer or officers involved? Who did the shooting? If the information is not available or not provided, spell that out.”
This move was a long time coming. They’ve been pondering it since 2016 at least.
For years, police abolitionists and left media critics have been chastising journalists for using “officer-involved shooting” to describe police shootings, pointing out that the vague euphemism is a tool of police public relations.
Linguistic gymnastics
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the phrase dates back to the mid-seventies and can be traced back to the Los Angeles Police Department. From there, it spread to other departments and usage skyrocketed.
