Counting the Killings

The official federal count of people killed by police in the US is so incomplete that the most-cited national figures come from a newspaper, an activist project, and a lone volunteer. They disagree with each other because they're counting different things. Six essays, three live instruments, and an open-data release trying to make that legible: https://www.jakelawrence.xyz/essays/police-shootings

The authoritative US count of police killings is maintained by a newspaper, an activist project, and a volunteer. The government number exists; it just misses most of them.

Six essays and three live instruments on why the numbers disagree and what it takes to reconcile them: https://www.jakelawrence.xyz/essays/police-shootings

The US does not reliably count the people its police kill. The numbers most people cite come from a newspaper, an activist project, and a lone volunteer working independently. They disagree because they measure different things. Six essays and three live instruments trying to sort that out.

There is no reliable federal count of people killed by US police. The figures most journalists and researchers reach for come from a newspaper, an activist-run database, and a single volunteer. All three disagree with each other, and none of them agree with the government's own tally, which misses most of the cases. Six essays, three live instruments, and a hashed open-data release reconciling five independent counters: https://www.jakelawrence.xyz/essays/police-shootings

The authoritative US count of police killings is kept by a newspaper, an activist project, and a volunteer. The federal number exists. It just misses most of them.

The US doesn't reliably count police killings. The figures most people cite come from a newspaper, an activist project, and a lone volunteer. They disagree because they're measuring different things.