Responding to long running complaints about the lack of national data available for how often police resort to deadly force, the FBI on Monday announced plans to track and publish the statistics.
The Washington Post reports that FBI Director James B. Comey described the information as vital in the ongoing debate over policing in the United States.
Via the Washington Post:
Continuing “without comprehensive data only stalls meaningful conversation and fuels empty debates, both within law enforcement and in the communities we serve,” [Comey] wrote in a message accompanying the release of the FBI’s crime statistics for 2014.
This is not the first time Comey has criticized the lack of data available regarding how often police officers shoot and kill people. While the federal government does track some fatal police shootings, federal officials have acknowledged that this data is incomplete. Not all agencies in the United States participate in the voluntary reporting system, which had left a considerable gap in the ongoing public discussion.
Earlier this year, Comey joined former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., who called the lack of information about the shootings “unacceptable,” notes the report.
The criticism came after protests against police violence following several high-profile law enforcement-involved deaths of unarmed Blacks, including Eric Garner in New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
The good news is that officials will no longer be able to deny the problem of police violence based on a lack of national data. The bad news is that the statistics will highlight a problem we are all too familiar with.
Sound off in the comments…
SOURCE: Washington Post | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
NYPD Announces Shift In Policing Practices, Will Document All Physical Encounters With Officers
The NYPD has announced new policing guidelines for use of force and a new program to report/document physical encounters with officers.
Watch Roland Martin, Tamika Mallory of the Justice League NYC and the NewsOne Now panel discuss this historic shift in policing practices by the NYPD in the video clip below.
TV One’s NewsOne Now has moved to 7 A.M. ET, be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.
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