Fatal Encounters

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

The down and dirty Fatal Encounters primer

A blogger friend asked me to put together a quick abridged history of Fatal Encounters. Others might find this useful, too. I’ve had media around the world telling this story now. Well, there is one … Read more

RN&R Series, FE4

Police psychology How Fatal Encounters affect officers forced to kill in the line of duty By D. Brian Burghart  Darren Wilson, the Ferguson Police Officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, the unarmed African-American teenager in … Read more

RN&R Series, Part 3

Cops Reno police reach out to troubled people When I talk about the Fatal Encounters project, which focuses on people who’ve been killed by law enforcement in the United States since 2000, people often ask … Read more

RN&R Series, Part 2

  Click on the image below to see a full-sized version of the infographic and don’t forget to check out the sidebar below it, “A Date with Destiny.”   A Date with Destiny Jace Herndon … Read more

A shocking update

Turns out the documents presented by the Sparks Police were misleading, and Monica Ritchey did not shoot her daughter, Darcie Latham. Sparks Police did. Who shot Darcie Latham? Readers may recall this quote from our … Read more

The RN&R Series Part 1

Who Watches the Watchers? RN&R begins a six-part series looking at the use of deadly force by police in Northern Nevada and beyond By D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com This article was published on 02.27.14. The pain 18-year-old … Read more

Freedom of Information Act updates

As I predicted in the Odds Against Tomorrow section of Why FE Exists, the FBI has responded to my less restrictive Freedom of Information Act request. In the Why FE Exists post, I claimed government agencies … Read more

First encounter

“The nation’s leading law enforcement agency [FBI] collects vast amounts of information on crime nationwide, but missing from this clearinghouse are statistics on where, how often, and under what circumstances police use deadly force. In … Read more