ANAHEIM – The American Civil Liberties Union of California issued a blistering report Monday contending that civilians in Anaheim are more likely to die at the hands of police officers than are the citizens of most other big U.S. cities.

The report analyzed 33 Anaheim officer-involved deaths from 2003 to 2016, gleaning information from police documents, newspaper articles, coroner’s reports and data collected by the California Attorney General and U.S. Department of Justice.

Anaheim ranked ninth among the 60 largest U.S. cities in 2015 in the rate of officer-involved deaths during during arrests, according to the ACLU, which cautions it is difficult to track police homicides because official databases are often incomplete. The report obtained its 2015 police homicide rate from the Mapping Police Violence Project, a research group that collects information on police killings nationwide to measure the impact on communities.

But acting Anaheim Police Chief Julian Harvey disputed the accuracy of the ACLU report.

“We welcome open and honest assessment of how we are doing,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this report falls short with misstatements designed for maximum impact rather than honestly portraying our city.”

He pointed out that the statistics are misleading, but added “any loss of life in our city is unfortunate, and the use of lethal force is always a last resort.”

The ACLU started researching officer-involved deaths in Anaheim in 2012, shortly after a two-day period in July of that year when Anaheim police shot two men in unrelated incidents. Those shootings, of Manuel Diaz and Joel Acevedo, sparked violent unrest in the city and, later, the formation of the Anaheim Public Safety Board.

Comprised of nine residents, the board monitors officer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths and other high-profile incidents and makes recommendations for improvements. The Anaheim City Council is slated to discuss broadening the board’s responsibilities — or discontinuing it — as soon as Dec. 5.

The timing of the ACLU report purposely coincides with the upcoming review and with the city’s search for a new police chief to replace Raul Quezada, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices for the ACLU of Southern California, who co-authored the report. Quezada resigned last month following a no-confidence vote by officers,

“Although the has city taken some steps to change police department policy, those changes have been limited and haven’t been successful,” Bibring said.

The ACLU is recommending the Public Safety Board be empowered to conduct full, independent reviews of officer-involved homicides and complaints. Currently, the only reviews of police shootings that can result in police discipline or criminal charges are conducted by Anaheim police and the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

The ACLU’s analysis found that of the 33 people killed by Anaheim police between 2003 and 2016, 29 died of gunshot, three by Taser and one after being placed in a choke hold. Fewer than 15 of those people were unarmed and the more than half were Black or Latino, according to the ACLU report.

The ACLU ‘s analysis also found that more than half of the Anaheim Police Department’s fatal shootings were committed by officers who had been involved in at least one previous incident.

“The number of killings involving repeat shooters raises questions about Anaheim PD’s handling of shootings, how effectively they identify officers that use deadly force too easily and their inability to keep officers involved in one fatal shooting from killing again,” the report says.

Though the Anaheim PD has nearly 400 sworn officers, the ACLU noted that a fraction of the force — just 50 officers — were involved in the 33 homicides tracked between 2003 and 2016.

The ACLU lists a number of recommendations to reduce officer-involved deaths in Anaheim, such as demanding a practice of de-escalation and allowing more public access to body camera recordings to promote transparency and accountability.

While the report offered detailed examples of what the ACLU deemed to be questionable homicides, the city noted that the narrative contained several factual errors.

For example, the report incorrectly assigns the death of Paul Anderson in 2015 to Anaheim Police Officer Ben Starke. While Anderson was shot at by officers, his death was determined to have been from his own weapon.

The ACLU report also said Anaheim Sgt. Daron Wyatt was responsible for two shootings during his career, one since he’s been with the Anaheim police and an earlier shooting while he worked for the Placentia Police Department. But Anaheim officials noted Monday that Wyatt was not responsible for the Placentia shooting, and suggested such mistakes by the ACLU were indicative of poor research.