Notes on police violence
US police killings on track to reach all-time high in 2017
By
George Gallanis
9 August 2017
As of this writing, the number of people killed by the police in the United States has likely increased. The count as of August 7, 2017 stands at 746 for the 2017 calendar year according to killedbypolice.net. Such an amount is unprecedented for the same time in previous years. If police killings stay consistent, 2017 will have the highest number of police killings on record.
While data from killedbypolice.net and the Washington Post is limited to recent years, both place 2015 as having the highest recorded number of people killed by police. Both, moreover, have recorded more killings than the official Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics (FBI), which has routinely undercounted killings.
As the Post has noted, “The FBI gathers information on fatal police shootings, but that program is based on voluntary reporting by police agencies and covers only cases in which police fatally shoot people who are committing felonies. The Post ’s data has revealed a dramatic undercount by the FBI.”
According to killedbypolice.net:
● In 2014, police killed 663 people by August 7, with 1,114 killed by the year’s end.
● In 2015, police killed 725 by August 7, with 1,216 killed by the year’s end.
● In 2016, police killed 714 by August 7, with 1,162 by the year’s end. The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, recorded significantly lower deaths. Its data, nonetheless, also reveals a similar trend.
● In 2015, police killed 592 people by August 7, 2015, totaling 991 killed for the year.
● In 2016, police killed 589 people by August 7, 2016, totaling 963 killed for the year.
● Presently, the Post puts the count at 594…