海角大神

Why the government has so little data on police violence

FBI Director James Comey criticized the lack of official data available on police-involved shootings Wednesday, saying some private newspapers so far have done a better job at producing statistics.

Since last summer, after a police officer shot聽an聽unarmed black teenager聽in Ferguson, Mo., the use of lethal force by law enforcement has become a topic of intense debate.

Since then, city police departments across the country have been seeking to reestablish trust with the public, 海角大神 has previously reported. Methods range from聽teaming up with federal authorities to reverting to the old days of community policing.

Yet headline after headline, one indisputable problem remains: the absence of official data available on police-involved shootings.

Even FBI Director James Comey decried the lack of information, as he spoke Wednesday聽to more than 100 politicians and law enforcement officials gathered at the Justice Department鈥檚 Summit on Violent Crime Reduction.

鈥淵ou can get online today and figure out how many tickets were sold to 鈥楾he Martian,鈥� which I saw this weekend 鈥� The CDC can do the same with the flu,鈥� said Director Comey, according to The Washington Post. 鈥淚t鈥檚 ridiculous 鈥� it鈥檚 embarrassing and ridiculous 鈥� that , especially in the high-stakes incidents when your officers have to use force.鈥�

This is not the first time Comey and other public officials have criticized the lack of data. The FBI chief employed the same language to聽 earlier this year, saying: 鈥淚t鈥檚 ridiculous that I can鈥檛 tell you how many people were shot by police in this country.鈥�

But Comey pointed out Wednesday that private sources, such as The Guardian and The Washington Post,聽have begun compiling databases far superior to the official ones.

鈥淚t is unacceptable that The Washington Post and the Guardian newspaper from the UK are about violent encounters between police and civilians. That is not good for anybody,鈥� he said.

In a project named 鈥淭he Counted,鈥� the Guardian has who have been killed by police in America this year. The Post, which has a similar investigation probing those who were fatally shot by police this year, counts .

Of course, some on police violence. Law enforcement agencies are asked to self-report officer-involved shootings as part of an FBI annual initiative known as 鈥渏ustifiable homicides,鈥� according to the Post.

But 鈥渢hat number 鈥� which only includes self-reported information from about 750 law enforcement agencies 鈥� hovers around 400 鈥榡ustifiable聽homicides鈥� by police officers each year,鈥� last September. 鈥淭he [Justice] department stopped releasing those numbers after 2009, because, like the FBI data, they were widely regarded as unreliable.鈥�

But Comey鈥檚 most recent complaints may be his last. His comments come on the heels of Attorney General Loretta Lynch鈥檚 announcement Monday, that their most comprehensive database yet.

鈥淭he program is understood to be already active, with a view to full implementation at the start of 2016,鈥� reports the Guardian.

鈥淎ll of us in law enforcement must be honest enough to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty,鈥� said Comey . 鈥淎t many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo, a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups.鈥�