The Director of the FBI claimed that he doesn’t know if there’s a problem of police killing civilians in the US because the government doesn’t collect enough data on the issue.
James Comey told the House Judiciary Committee that he expects the FBI will have a database up and running within two years to track all incidents of individuals killed during encounters with law enforcement. Until then, though, the Director alleged that the current debate is “uninformed.”
“We’re having passionate important conversations in this country about police use of force in connection with encounters with civilians especially with African Americans,” Comey testified. “In the absence of that data, we’re driven entirely by anecdote and that’s a very bad place to be.”
“I don’t know whether there’s an epidemic of violence,” he added. “My instincts tell me there isn’t, but I don’t know.”
Comey’s testimony, however, ignored the numerous outlets that are actively tracking police shootings around the country—ones that can be easily accessed with a few clicks of a mouse.
Both The Washington Post and The Guardian have running totals on their websites tallying fatal encounters with police this year in the US.
Relying on open-records requests with police department, local news reports, law enforcement social media and websites, the Post calculated that 715 individuals have been killed by police so far this year. The Guardian puts the total so far at 800, with black, Hispanic, and Native American minorities making up 42 percent of the slayings (they collectively make up about 36 percent of the US population).
In just the last week alone, news reports have focused on a number of African-American civilians killed by police.
The city of Charlotte, N.C. has been dealing with unrest since the death of Keith Scott, who was shot and killed by police last week after he was spotted with marijuana in his car. Officers claimed that Scott was in possession of a gun at the time.
In Tulsa, Okla., Terrence Crutcher was shot and killed by a police officer as he was walking to his disabled vehicle with his hands up in the air. The officer involved in the shooting, Betty Jo Shelby, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter in the case.
Both incidents were captured on video.
This week, an unarmed man was killed by police in San Diego after officers claimed he took a “shooting stance” toward them. Police were responding to a call that a man was acting “erratically” behind a shopping center.
During his appearance on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Comey discussed the value in the government collecting more information on deadly police interactions.
“I can’t think of something that’s more inherently governmental than the need to use deadly force in an encounter during law enforcement work,” he said. The Director added that in the last year, law enforcement leadership around the country have come together to agree that the FBI should be maintaining this data.
“We will have this done in the next year—certainly in the next two years,” Comey said.
