The crisis of deadly US police violence against citizens

The Mapping Police Violence website reports that between the start of this year and October, police officers in 49 states and the District of Columbia killed at least 1,151 civilians. This figure covers the number of people killed in shootings as well as the use of stun guns and other tools by law enforcement to deal with the public. The states with the highest rates of police-killed civilians were New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana.

Compared to the same period in 2023, this number is at least 31 higher. At the same time, estimates indicate that by the end of this year, the number of people killed by American police will likely reach 1,378.

According to this survey, only eleven days have passed since the start of the year without any reports of American citizens being killed by US police. According to the Center for Police Brutality report, American police officers killed at least 86 Black people. According to the population ratio, Black people are therefore three times more likely than white people to be victims.

The media and data centers are the primary sources used to count the number of murders committed by American police. In 2013, the Center for the Study of Police Violence in the United States carried out its first count. At least 1,777 people were killed by American police officers in that year.

According to studies, since 2015, 9,129 people have been fatally shot by American police. The 2014 murder of Michael Brown, a Black American citizen, by the police is the reason for gathering data about 2015.

Less than half of fatal police shootings are reported, and the disparity keeps growing. According to US officials, the reason why only one-third of fatal shootings were recorded in the FBI's database by 2021 is because local police departments are not obligated to notify the federal government of these incidents.