One year ago today, the White House released 鈥� 116 pages of recommendations meant to address the epidemic of killings of unarmed Black and brown people by the police officers sworn to protect them. The report was supposed to be a blueprint for reforms in policing this country has needed for decades. Yet 12 months after its publication, our government still can鈥檛 even come up with the number of people who have been killed by U.S. police.
鈥淸E]mbarrassing and ridiculous鈥濃�攖hat鈥檚 how the characterized our government鈥檚 lack of data on killings by police. He also said it鈥檚 鈥渦nacceptable鈥� that we have to rely on two newspapers 鈥� and 鈥� to get national estimates for these statistics.
The federal government is the official record keeper of . Certainly police shootings are of national significance, too, and should be documented by the very entity that provides dollars and resources to local police. How can we start to address a national crisis if our own government can鈥檛 measure it?
This year鈥檚 tallies by the Guardian and the Post are roughly the same as they were at this point last year 鈥� the problems with our police departments鈥� use of force aren鈥檛 going away.
Think of , who was unarmed and naked when an Austin, Texas, police officer shot him three times and killed him. Reports indicate that the 17-year-old African-American may have been experiencing a mental health crisis when he was shot in February. Almost a year ago, surrounded the fatal police shooting of Anthony Hill in DeKalb County, Georgia.
A police officer in Winslow, Arizona, shot five times, killing her after she allegedly threatened him with scissors. Police said the 27-year-old was a shoplifting suspect from a nearby convenience store.
plays a role in 25 percent of fatal police shootings. make up 47 percent of those killed by police. Just as troubling as these statistics is that we have to piece them together from two newspapers鈥� databases whose totals don鈥檛 match up. Why isn鈥檛 our government doing the job?
Because the recommendation in on data collection is a 鈥渟hould,鈥� not a 鈥渕ust鈥�: 鈥減olicies on use of force should also require agencies to collect, maintain, and report data to the federal government on all officer-involved shootings, whether fatal or nonfatal, as well as any in-custody death.鈥�
鈥淪hould鈥� means that providing data on police shootings to the federal government remains voluntary, which is why the FBI鈥檚 Unified Crime Reporting data 鈥� the most comprehensive government database on crimes in the nation 鈥� can鈥檛 produce any national statistics. A grand total of out of the more than 18,000 across the country reported fatal police shootings to the federal government in 2014.
For too long, the Department of Justice has allowed police departments to opt out of sharing their data with the federal government, even when these departments receive federal funds. As we and 81 other organizations urged the Department of Justice in March, it鈥檚 time to require any department that gets a piece of the annual it gives to state and local agencies to collect and report data on police-community encounters. The Justice Department should also issue regulations for the , so we know what 鈥渃ustody鈥� means and what happens when departments don鈥檛 comply.
Since the task force report, the , , and have each begun new police data programs. But these initiatives all rely on voluntary participation just like their . The numbers say it all: have signed up for the White House . That鈥檚 a participation rate of less than 1 percent.
The it is making significant improvements to its database. But even with the best data system in the world, what good is it without data? The federal government needs to to collect information on police-community encounters. And law enforcement has a responsibility to provide the data we need to advance necessary reforms.
If the federal government is giving out federal dollars, law enforcement has to hand over the data.
