Last week, it was revealed that the U.S. government opted not to report more than half of the killings that took place at the hands of police officers.
According to the Guardian, this information was exposed during the first attempt to determine the approximate number of police homicides that have gone undocumented over the years. The FBI had reported that, over eight years (2003 to 2009, 2011), there were an average of 383 such killings. However, the Guardian reports that a staggering average of 545 went uncounted:
The new estimate – an average of 928 people killed by police annually over eight recent years, compared to 383 in published FBI data – amounted to a more glaring admission than ever before of the government’s failure to track how many people police kill.
The more accurate figure is 928—let that sink in. What's more, the Guardian also explained why the FBI's numbers are so far off:
The data underlying the FBI tally is estimated to cover 46% of officer-involved homicides at best for the years 2003-2009 and 2011, the BJS report concluded. But the published FBI tallies cover even fewer of the total deaths, closer to 41%, in part because the FBI publishes no data from Florida. A separate tally of arrest-related deaths, conducted by BJS itself, was slightly more accurate for the years in question, capturing 49% of law enforcement homicides, at best, the report found.
The report estimated an average of 928 law enforcement homicides per year for the years in question, suggesting that the FBI’s published count of 414 such deaths in 2009, for example, might be 124% off, while its count of 347 such deaths in 2005 might be 167% off.
It's also worth noting that the FBI data is based on voluntary information that comes courtesy of local law enforcement agencies. Just like it's worth noting, as GlobalResearch.org did, that you're now 55 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than the U.S. than a terrorist worldwide.
This all comes on the heels of the Department of Justice's damning findings about the discriminatory practices of the Ferguson Police Department.
[via The Guardian]
