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There is no racial bias when it comes to fatal police shootings.

That鈥檚 the startling conclusion of聽a new study聽by economist Roland Fryer Jr., the youngest African-American to receive tenure at Harvard.聽

The data don鈥檛 completely undermine the fundamental premise of the police-and-race debate now shaking the United States. Dr. Fryer鈥檚 research suggests that police treat black and white suspects differently in other ways 鈥� blacks are 18 percent more likely to be pushed to the ground, 16 percent more likely to be handcuffed without arrest, and 24 percent more likely to have a gun pointed at them, for example.聽

But the study challenges broad assumptions that racism is a key driver in the killing of black suspects by police.聽

Among those who found the results surprising was Fryer himself, who began researching police shootings because of "his anger after the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray,鈥� he told The New York Times. And for families who have lost loved ones after police encounters that began with a broken taillight, a pocketknife, loose cigarettes, or CDs, the new study is unlikely to ameliorate the sense that their family suffered a massive injustice.

But Fryer's examination of the patterns lying behind the tragedies that have driven the national conversation on race for the past two years both adds detail and understanding to the circumstances leading up to a police shooting, and shows the paramount need for more research.

Criminologists have qualms with the study, saying it has not yet been fully vetted by other experts and has flaws in its execution. But they suggest the findings could be a valuable attempt to debunk what they see as the current, simplistic narrative about police violence and race. The statistics that exist indicate the story is far more nuanced than most media accounts suggest, they say.

Eugene O鈥橠onnell, a criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former New York police officer, says he is not surprised by Fryer's findings.聽

鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking about a conversation with 10,000 nuances, but it鈥檚 revolving over the same visceral video,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not having a national conversation on the realities of policing because that鈥檚 boring to people,鈥� so instead the issue becomes black versus white, both literally and figuratively.聽

鈥淣inety percent of the narrative of is a repeat of the same conversation,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just on a loop.鈥�

Hints of a counternarrative

Some data support the general thesis of Fryer鈥檚 study. Crime rates have gone down since 2000, but lethal police shootings of both white and black Americans have increased, says James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. 聽

In fact, the increase among white Americans has been steeper 鈥� 鈥渃ertainly not what one might expect if you believe that blacks are treated differently by cops,鈥� says Professor Fox.聽

鈥淔rom 2000 to 2013, the number of whites killed by the police increased 57 percent, while the number of blacks killed by the police increased 42 percent,鈥� Fox wrote in聽a 2015 opinion article聽for USA Today. 鈥淎re we more critical of certain white-on-black police encounters by presuming racism as a contributing factor rather than seeing the matter as a few police officers doing their job recklessly?鈥�

In a sign of how different statistics show different nuances, a Washington Post database of the 990 fatal police shootings in 2015 shows 90 unarmed males killed: 36 were black, 31 were white, 18 were Hispanic, and five were 鈥渙ther.鈥澛�

African Americans make up聽13 percent聽of the population but 40 percent of the police shootings, seemingly supporting the general narrative.聽

But the 鈥渦narmed black man鈥� description doesn鈥檛 tell the whole story,聽writes Heather Mac Donald聽in a commentary for the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization focused on US criminal justice. In some of these 36 cases, unarmed suspects physically beat up officers to the point where they feared for their lives or reached for officers鈥� guns and equipment. 聽聽

鈥淥ne can debate the tactics used and the moment when an officer would have been justified in opening fire,鈥� writes Ms. Mac Donald, 鈥渂ut these cases are more complicated and morally ambiguous than a simple 鈥榰narmed鈥� classification would leave a reader to believe.鈥�

Experts warn that race could play a subconscious factor in how police officers perceive a personal threat 鈥� something that might not show in the data.

But 鈥渢he more you look at the facts, the picture will get murkier not clearer. I haven鈥檛 seen a clear pattern of widespread, demonstrable abuse with unjustified shootings,鈥� says Professor O鈥橠onnell of John Jay College. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite clear we鈥檙e trapped in a narrative 鈥� it鈥檚 understandable, but it鈥檚 afactual.鈥�

Fryer鈥檚 study, which examined 1,332 shootings since 2000 in 10 cities 鈥� including Houston, Los Angeles, and Orlando 鈥� in three states, is seen as an intriguing contribution to a debate that Fryer calls 鈥渧irtually data free.鈥� But criminologists are hesitant to take it at face value for several reasons.聽

• Some police departments, such as New York City, refused to give Fryer鈥檚 team their data.聽
• Fryer鈥檚 team also trusted police officers鈥� classification of 鈥渏ustifiable lethal force鈥� 鈥� which the recent videos of the deaths of Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, and others聽have called into question.聽
• The study is classified as a 鈥渨orking paper鈥� without peer review.聽
• The study ignores the racial bias that causes officers to stop blacks vs. whites in the first place.聽

What we don't know

Many of the caveats could be eliminated by better data systems in the US justice system, says Phil Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University.

鈥淭hat, to me, is the biggest takeaway from research like this 鈥� that our recording system for police data is bad,鈥� says Professor Stinson. 鈥淣ot only is it bad, but it is different in different places.鈥�

For example, the race of a victim only comes up in some types of court records, officer training differs, and definitions of force vary.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just really, really difficult to look at this issue. We are dealing with a decentralized system in a large country,鈥� adds Stinson. 鈥淎nd up until a few years ago, researchers didn鈥檛 even care about looking into police shootings.鈥�

However, studies like Fryer鈥檚 can help Americans break away from an exaggerated narrative and realize our broken data system, says Tod Burke, a criminologist at Radford University in Virginia and a former police officer in Maryland.聽

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 the end, it鈥檚 a continuing process 鈥� let鈥檚 continue the discussion but use this study and its results so we have data and not just 鈥業 see鈥� or 鈥業 believe,鈥� 鈥� he says. 鈥淭he results may show it鈥檚 not as bad as we think, but the fact that we鈥檙e having this conversation shows there鈥檚 an issue that needs to be addressed in police-community relations.鈥澛犅�