Fatal Encounters

A step toward creating an impartial, comprehensive and searchable national database of people killed during interactions with police

Lead Researcher Walt Lockley Speaks Up

On June 2, 2015, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the Police Reporting Information, Data, and Evidence Act of 2015.  Co-sponsors were Sens. Al Franken (D-MN), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Barbara … Read more

New York Times Analysis

Sarah Cohen, Editor of the New York Times computer-assisted reporting team and co-writer of this story that ran about Fatal Encounters today, was kind enough to allow me to post their spreadsheet which shows the … Read more

RN&R Series, FE 6

Wow, that’s pretty hilarious. I just realized I never posted the final piece of the newspaper’s series. It ran on December 31, 2014. (Yes, I know it says January 1 on the website, but the … Read more

RN&R Series, FE5

Eyes wide open What should citizen oversight of law enforcement look like? By D. Brian Burghart  Particularly since Michael Brown’s death at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, a national dialogue has been taking place … Read more

How to research the FBI data

This is a post for those who are researching the anonymized data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. It’s on the FBI Data Tab at the bottom of the master Fatal Encounters from Web sheet (second … Read more

Shocking police homicide percentages

I saw that Charles Davis of Vice wrote that the Youth Justice Coalition found that “Each year, from 3 to 8 percent of all homicides are committed by members of the Los Angeles Police Department or the Los Angeles … Read more

Lists, links and databases

I want to mention a couple of my associates in this effort to create a national database of people killed by police, and to talk about our different approaches to how we collect and disseminate the information. … Read more

Idaho’s Public Records Problem

People and news organizations often ask me how government goes about hiding information about police activities. I’ve written about it fairly extensively, but here’s a pretty good example how Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s office … Read more

Fatal Encounters FAQ

One of the things that is cracking me up as the national media start noticing there’s something happening over here is that they don’t really get what this project is doing. I think they’re pigeonholing … Read more