Criminals, not the police, are the ones killing young Latinos

An organization called Orange County CSO mounted a protest about a week ago demanding that the Santa Ana police stop killing Chicanos. However, a hard look at the data reveals a different reality. The driving force behind violence and loss of life in Orange County is criminal behavior, not the actions of those sworn to protect us.

When you strip away the political rhetoric and analyze the empirical evidence, it becomes clear that police officers are rarely the aggressors. In nearly every instance of a fatal officer-involved shooting, the individual killed was actively engaged in a violent or criminal act, leaving officers with no choice but to use force to defend themselves and the public.

The Myth of Unprovoked Police Violence

The narrative promoted by anti-police organizations suggests that officers routinely use deadly force without justification. But investigations by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office consistently show that the vast majority of individuals shot by police were armed, dangerous, and actively committing crimes.

Data compiled across California and locally illuminates this reality:

• The Presence of Deadly Weapons: National and statewide statistics, including the 2025 Police Violence Report, show that the overwhelming majority of individuals killed during police encounters were armed with deadly weapons—most commonly firearms, knives, or dangerous objects.
• Active Criminal Behavior: Reviewing the OCDA Officer-Involved Shooting Reports Archive reveals a consistent pattern. Case after case details suspects who were actively resisting arrest, fleeing from armed robberies, threatening civilians, or engaging in violent standoffs with law enforcement.
• The Rarity of Force: Out of thousands of arrests made annually in Orange County, actual “response to resistance” incidents comprise a tiny fraction of total encounters. For instance, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Response to Resistance Analysis shows that force is only deployed when a suspect actively fights back or refuses to comply during a lawful arrest.

Who is Really Killing Orange County’s Latino Youth?

Protest groups frequently stage demonstrations over high-profile police shootings, attempting to frame law enforcement as a systemic threat to the Hispanic community. However, public health data proves that the real danger comes from within criminal street gangs, not from the police.

According to California Department of Public Health Violent Death Reporting System Data, homicide in California is heavily intra-racial, and the primary driver of violent deaths among young Hispanic males is gang-related warfare and street crime. Criminal gang members kill far more Latinos in Orange County every single year than law enforcement officers do.

By directing their outrage exclusively at the police, activists ignore the violent criminals terrorizing local neighborhoods and tearing families apart.

Protecting the Public in Fractured Communities

Police officers face split-second, life-or-death decisions in environments where violent crime is a daily reality. When a suspect chooses to pull a weapon, threaten an innocent bystander, or violently resist arrest, they dictate the outcome of that interaction.

Blaming law enforcement for the tragic consequences of a suspect’s criminal choices does nothing to improve community safety. If activists truly want to reduce violence and save lives in Orange County, the focus must shift away from hamstringing the police and toward stopping the criminals who choose to break the law.