Monday, November 14, 2016

Why Doesn't the Government Track Nationwide Police Use of Force?

Every day in America, people are killed or injured by police.

Sometimes they die in swarms of police bullets or in chokeholds or jailhouse beatings. Sometimes their hearts give out after being shot with a Taser or their lungs are crushed beneath the weight of grappling officers.

Yet, no one knows for sure just how many or how often such incidents occur.

Even in an age of exhaustive monitoring of everything from public school competency to national park attendance, there is no single government agency tasked with collating data on how often police injure citizens.

Critics and many law enforcement leaders believe that lack of data collection has created a massive blind spot in terms of effective police reform and policies. 

"We need to collect actual, accurate and complete information about policing in this country so that we have informed debates about things that matter enormously," FBI Director James Comey said during a recent gathering of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in San Diego.  

Click here for the full article.

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