In 2019, the FBI launched the National Use-of-Force Data Collection program. It would have collected data on every violent encounter with police departments nationwide, not just ones that end in death. But we might NEVER see it! Why?
First of all, it only required data from 60% of law enforcement officers. But “due to insufficient participation” in this crucial program, the data may never see the light of day!
Right now, they’ve barely scratched 57%, still leaving thousands of agencies, and hundreds of thousands of officers, uninvolved.
Back in 2015, then-FBI chief James Comey even said it was “embarrassing and ridiculous” that newspapers like the Washington Post and the Guardian literally had more information on police killings than the FBI itself – which reported less than half the fatal shootings that were actually happening a year.
But we were actually supposed to have this information a long time ago!
Remember the infamous 1994 crime bill? Well, it actually ordered the Department of Justice to collect data on law enforcement officers’ “excessive force.” Whatever happened to that?
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, not much.
How are we supposed to “reform” policing if police won’t even report the truth on what’s going on? The more brutality festers unchecked, the more power they acquire. A system as dishonest as this NEEDS to go!