Shamed into action?
by Tom Sullivan
The Guardian is tracking the number of people killed by U.S. police (for whatever reason) in 2015. The Counted database is up to 1,058 this year as I write this. Explaining that the “US government has no comprehensive record of the number of people killed by law enforcement,” the site works like this:
The Counted is a project by the Guardian – and you – working to count the number of people killed by police and other law enforcement agencies in the United States throughout 2015, to monitor their demographics and to tell the stories of how they died.
The database will combine Guardian reporting with verified crowdsourced information to build a more comprehensive record of such fatalities. The Counted is the most thorough public accounting for deadly use of force in the US, but it will operate as an imperfect work in progress – and will be updated by Guardian reporters and interactive journalists as frequently and as promptly as possible.
The FBI may have been shamed into action:
The FBI plans to overhaul its system for counting the number of deaths caused by police in the US, according to federal officials, and will begin releasing information about deadly encounters involving the use of Tasers and other force, in addition to fatal shootings.
Responding to months of sharp criticism over its existing program for reporting fatal shootings by police officers, the bureau is to unveil a new system that will publish a wider range of data, resembling that currently collected by an ongoing Guardian investigation.
Stephen Fischer, a senior official in the FBI’s criminal justice information services division in West Virginia, said it had “identified a need for more robust and complete information about encounters between law enforcement officers and citizens that result in a use of force”.
About time.
A string of high-profile deaths, many captured on video, resulted in large street protests across the country and sparked the #blacklivesmatter movement. With news organizations stepping in to begin accounting for the number of deaths at police hands, finally the FBI has been shamed into action:
James Comey, the director of the FBI, said in October it was “ridiculous and embarrassing” that the Guardian and Washington Post kept better data on the topic than the federal government. “That is not good for anybody,” he said.
The Washington Post’s accounting is here.