US record keepers looking at uncounted law enforcement homicides realized that previous official tallies severely undercounted numbers. The new estimate put it at an average of 928 people each year over the most recent eight years, compared to 383 in published FBI data.
The numbers compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the research institute RTI International found that FBI statistics covered only 46% of law enforcement homicides and doesn’t even include data from several key states, including Florida. The FBI tallies, the report says, are “anything but hugely misleading.”
Another problem with the FBI numbers is that they are based on voluntary submissions by local law enforcement. Since law enforcement agencies are not required to submit the data, many do not for officer-involved shootings.
The underreporting is pretty significant, says the report. In one case the data was 124% off what it should be, while another year was 167% off. The years included in the study were also prominent ones for officer-involved shootings, such as the 2006 shooting of Sean Bell in a haze of bullets outside a New York nightclub, and the 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant in an Oakland, California train station. Grant’s story was turned into an Oscar-winning award-winning film, Fruitvale Station.
Most others, the researchers say, went uncounted and unnamed.
Even FBI Director James Comey recognizes the problem with the numbers from the FBI, saying at a recent speech at Georgetown University that he’s flabbergasted that the numbers aren’t more accurate. “It’s ridiculous that I can’t tell you how many people were shot by the police in this country – last week, last year, the last decade – it’s ridiculous.
