Local activists call on San Jose police to be more transparent about when and why they deploy snipers to monitor peaceful protests.

Deadly encounters between police and citizens have increased in recent years. And while officer-involved shootings are nearly always ruled justified, mistakes are costly—both in lives and in the millions that the public pays to victims and their heirs.

Fearing backlash from the public, San Jose police have opted to get rid of a heavily armored 15-ton truck, a military hand-me-down the city received from the Pentagon earlier this year.