Number of Deaths in Police Custody Higher than Media Reports: DOJ Data

FeyginFoto/Shutterstock.com

The story of police brutality has been missing one data point – a federal accounting of the problem.

The story of police brutality playing out on city streets, in news accounts and on cellphone video footage has been missing one data point – a federal accounting of the problem.

This spring, Justice Department-funded data scientists will present findings from a pilot project that, in essence, crowdsources facts on police homicides. So far, the number of possible deaths during and after police pursuit is far higher than the figures tabulated by both journalists and activists appalled by the longtime paucity of data on excessive use-of-force.

The project is part of a new project by the Bureau of Justice Statistics focused on capturing an official record of the whole “universe” of law enforcement homicides. The agency has assigned part of a new task to an artificial intelligence tool that crawls online news for the most relevant, potential cases of civilians dying during arrests. Soon, bureau data analysts will compare the reports to local agency records.

A survey in the offing will measure police body camera use nationwide.

"Because newspaper accounts will vary a lot in the elements that they cover, we don't have a great deal of confidence" that they will include every data element of interest, Bureau of Justice Statistics Director Bill Sabol told Nextgov.

Project leaders emphasize the census-taking does not rely on press accounts, but rather consults articles to "nominate" cases for follow-up with law enforcement, medical examiners and criminal investigative agencies.

Agencies’ "additional facts and circumstances may reveal a different cause of death,” Sabol said. Or, “somebody may have written a story about a homicide, but the homicide didn't occur.”

The end goal of this fact-finding mission, the government says, is to create a more efficient way of acquiring reliable details on the number of people killed by law enforcement.

Human rights groups say legitimate data will facilitate transparency and accountability when cops use unreasonable force.

The whole project is part of a larger departmentwide effort to put a credible number on the cases of use-of-force in the United States. There are no good figures on people severely harmed, shot at or killed by the police, partly because of the difficulty of coming up with common criteria to record for each situation.  

Justice's "arrest-related deaths program" -- which has been in place since 2003 -- identified only between 59 and 69 percent of the estimated actual total of fatal interactions with police in 2011, according to a March 2015 bureau assessment of the program. The ongoing crowdsourcing and fact-checking process is a redesign of that program.

"Arrest-related deaths" encompass all fatalities -- not only homicides but also incidents like suicides and accidents -- that happen during pursuit of a suspect.

If the statistics bureau likes what it sees in the spring, a contract solicitation to maintain the system could be issued in time for reporting to begin in October.  

Robo-Search Engine Picks Death News like Netflix Picks Movies

The push to offer citizens and government agencies a quantitative depiction of police brutality arrives during a low point for the public's trust in police.

The killing of black teenager Michael Brown two years ago by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, became the tipping point for suspicions that U.S. authorities tend to pull the trigger disproportionately on black individuals.

More recently, the November 2015 release of a police dashboard camera video showing a white Chicago cop fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014 prompted nationwide protests.

On Dec. 3, an FBI advisory policy board recommended the FBI collect data on the use of force by officers whenever their actions result “in death or serious bodily injury, or whenever a law enforcement officer discharges a firearm at or near an individual," FBI spokesman Stephen G. Fischer Jr. said in an emailed statement.

The figures would be amassed through the FBI’s longstanding Uniform Crime Reporting Program, he said. Those data elements, however, only partially overlap with the statistics bureau's informational needs.

So, about a year ago, the bureau began conversations with the FBI about creating a single questionnaire for local agencies that would combine both sets of statistical reporting.

Even if a single FBI form becomes a reality, the statistics bureau would maintain the crowdsourcing system as a type of check.

"If we find cases in Google Alerts and they are not appearing in the FBI data, then we could use that to follow up with agencies to confirm that, in fact, yes, the report is correct and the agency should submit a report," Sabol said. "We want to keep something going to make sure the coverage of all the eligible cases is complete."

Last summer, contractors from research institute RTI International developed the artificial intelligence technology that picks out news reports about arrest-related deaths.

The computer program winnows down an overwhelming amount of results from keyword searches ("police shooting" pulls up 7 million hits on Google) by dissecting the text of stories and matching this analysis with articles researchers previously read. It serves up news articles in a way similar to how Netflix suggests movie recommendations based on films a viewer watched in the past.

Humans Have the Ultimate Say-So

After a three-month tryout, the technique identified 400 possible arrest-related deaths, including homicides and other fatalities.

The number represents potential arrest-related deaths not yet confirmed and totals could be revised downward. For example, follow-up with local agencies might reveal that multiple articles about the same unnamed victims are double-counting police deaths, according to program managers.

Still, that government statistic is larger than figures calculated by high-profile, grassroots efforts to quantify police-involved deaths during the same time period.

The criteria measured by FatalEncounters.org hew closely to the bureau’s selections: shootings, other uses of force like taser homicides, accidents, suicides and natural causes. The organization found 339 deaths during that same time frame, from June 2015 through August 2015.

A Guardian newspaper project called “The Counted,” whose parameters are similar, but excludes suicides and natural causes, recorded 303 fatalities.

KilledbyPolice.net, which tracks all five types of deaths plus off-duty killings, logged 314 incidents.

The Washington Post's database of strictly police shootings resulting in deaths recorded 263 killings.

A team of humans at the bureau has the ultimate say-so in selecting potential cases, after reviewing the pool chosen by the machine-learning program, officials say.  

Duren Banks, an RTI International criminologist and former bureau unit chief, said some of the technology in play is often used by commercial enterprises that want to gauge how often they are being talked about in the news and in what context.

"We've developed our own system to weave through that information and prioritize which media to look at specifically," she said.

The approach removes duplicate media reports, deaths in foreign countries and other articles outside the project's scope. It then ranks the hits in order of relevancy.

"We don't rely on blogs or information put out by partisan-type of groups," Banks said.

Staff members record the reported date of death, law enforcement agency involved and deceased individual's name, if disclosed.

During the fact-finding phase, the bureau will ask local agencies questions such as: Was the deceased armed? What might the individual have been charged with? How many law enforcement agencies responded to the scene? The bureau will take down the demographics of the person who died, including race and ethnicity, as well as whether the incident occurred in a private residence, public space or law enforcement facility.

A Long Wait for Meaningful Data

Some current and former police officers do not expect the final statistics to reflect that police brutality is pervasive in the United States.

With the FBI and the bureau data, "we can fill in some of the narrative because the narrative is being filled in anyway," said Mark A. Marshall, sheriff of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. While pundits in the media claim use-of-force by police is a systemic problem across law enforcement, "I would beg to differ,” he said.

"There are millions and millions of contacts involving citizens and the law enforcement that don’t end up in use-of-force applications, or certainly in deadly-force applications. They are relatively rare, but they do occur," said Marshall, who sits on the advisory board that recommended the FBI quantify such instances. "Anywhere those kinds of incidents occur, we’re all painted, whether it’s in Chicago, whether it's New York, or whether it's in Isle of Wight, Virginia, we all get painted with the same brush."

Without accurate long-term statistics, it is impossible to tell whether police abuse rates have increased or decreased from the time of, for example, the 1991 videotaped beating of Rodney King by L.A.P.D. officers to the 2014 surveillance video on YouTube of 12-year-old Tamir Rice slain by a Cleveland police officer.

There is speculation that police have exercised extreme force against civilians for decades, and the trend went undetected until body-cams, smartphone cameras and surveillance cameras sent images of misconduct viral.

Peter Kraska, who researches police militarization and holds a chair at Eastern Kentucky University’s School of Justice Studies, said: "It may be that it's infinitely better than it used to be, or it may be that it's infinitely worse. We just don't know.”

A chart showing the types of deaths recorded by various sources. The “arrest-related deaths” pilot program aims to track all fatalities -- homicides, suicides and accidents -- that happen during pursuit of a suspect. (Source: DOJ)

After starting to take stock in 2015, The Washington Post and the Guardian each reported that about 1,000 civilians were killed by cops last year.

For some perspective, during the 12-month period the statistics bureau last collected local agency records, which was in 2011, it counted 689 homicides by police.

Police Departments Don’t Have to Record

Law enforcement agencies are not required to report police killings to the FBI or the statistics bureau.

Most agencies have zero deaths each year, so the burden to participate is small, said Banks, the RTI criminologist. Some states actually mandate that agencies assemble and report the data. But for other agencies, primarily larger ones, the process does take effort and money.

Between 2003 and 2011, the bureau provided slightly more than $730,000 in assistance to states for gathering data through a centralized statistical analysis center, Banks said.

Kanya Bennett, American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel, said there would be less “teeth pulling" if Justice tried more of a get-tough approach.

Justice has the option to dock a certain percentage of a police department's federal funding if it does not submit data on law enforcement homicides, under the Death in Custody Reporting Act, which governs the bureau's data collections.

"I think that it is important that the Bureau of Justice Statistics do its own independent gathering of information," Bennett said. "However, it should have a fairly good starting point if it were actually requiring police departments to report."

Many law enforcement agencies oppose tying performance metrics to federal dollars, arguing the loss of money will compromise public safety. But Bennett argued, "We should not be handing out federal dollars if we are not even getting the most basic of information about how police are doing their job with federal dollars.”

Statistics bureau officials, in 2010 and 2011, began requesting more data from local police departments dealing with specific cases that had garnered media coverage. After that, “participation increased,” officials told Nextgov in an email.

The current pilot study should serve as a “direct test” of police departments' ability to respond to questions about press accounts, officials said.

The bureau "is committed to working with state and local law enforcement agencies as well as the FBI to ensure" the program data is "reliable," their emailed statement said.

Because emotions are running high on the issue of excessive force, there is pressure to show society some hard and fast figures that might not turn out to be right, Marshall cautioned. At the statistics bureau, the fact-checking probably will create complications, he said, adding, "I just don’t know that that’s going to be an accurate number."

In the meantime, all 51 of Marshall's officers now are outfitted with body cameras.

"As I told our deputies, it captures the good, the bad and the ugly," he said. "If we’ve got things that we need to improve, if there are training issues, that gives us the accountability and the transparency."

It’s All About Context

The statistics bureau expects to survey about 5,000 law enforcement agencies early in 2016 on their body-cam use, policies and practices.

The agency, however, has not assessed incorporating video into its accounting of police-involved fatalities.

"We haven't given serious thought to whether body-cams or car-cams or other video could be used to capture information about the circumstances surrounding the deaths," said Sabol, the Bureau of Justice Statistics director. The variations in police department policies may rule out the use of video feeds as a data set, he said.

Nick Selby, a detective with a police department near Dallas, Texas, maintains a tally of law enforcement homicides with video accompaniment, when available, as a business. The data is available for free. He stressed that attaining a deep understanding of deadly situations will be critical for Justice.

"We need much more data than is currently being gathered, and the data must be around the context of the event -- from the 911 call to the autopsy and final investigative reports, grand jury and court testimony," said Selby, who was not speaking in his capacity as a detective.  

His company, analytics firm StreetCred Software, logs "data on the officers -- any prior complaints of excessive force -- and the decedent -- any prior conviction of violent crime," he said.

For video to be valuable, it must be taped, tagged, stored and parsed.

Terry Gainer, a former Senate sergeant at arms, chief of the U.S. Capitol police and 20-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, now consults organizations on body camera surveillance.

"It's the analytics that will let everybody decide whether law enforcement is hiring the right officer, whether we have the right policy, the right training, the right supervision,” he said.

(Image via /Shutterstock.com)

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.