More Than 1,000 People Have Been Killed by Police in 2014

There are no frills to be found at www.killedbypolice.net. The site is just a simple spreadsheet. The information it contains, though, is invaluable. It is a list of every single person documented to have been killed by police in the United States in 2013 and 2014. There are links to a media report for every single death, as well as their names, ages, and when known, sex and race.

The site is so valuable because, as we've noted previously, there is no reliable national database for keeping track of the number of people killed by police each year. The FBI tracks homicides by law enforcement officers, but participation is voluntary, and many agencies don't participate. As I noted last week, Eric Garner's death at the hands of a New York Police Department won't show up in the FBI's statistics for 2014 because the state of New York does not participate in the program.

The FBI's statistics for 2013 say that law enforcement officers killed 461 people that year. Killedbypolice.net apparently got its start last year. Using their system of monitoring by news report, they have calculated that police actually killed 748 people between May and December. That's 287 more than the FBI reports for the whole year.

And for 2014, which still has a couple of weeks left, the site has reported 1,029 people have been killed by police. That's about a 30 percent increase over last year, though with four-month gap at the start of 2013 (measuring 25 percent of the year), it's possible the numbers would be much closer if we had January through April. Even with the FBI's broken numbers, we know that 2013 marked a two-decade high in killings by police.

Neither the site nor its Facebook page indicates who is responsible for compiling this information, and they're protecting their identity by hosting the site through GoDaddy. We can't talk to whoever is responsible for this database about how or why they started it and how much effort it is to keep track of this information. Here is a page for people to submit information to help improve the quality of the database.

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Comments

[Paul.]

This seems like a more reasonable number, however I suspect it's yet higher.

The FBIs figure seemed far too low. Considering that Reason covers dozens of questionable killings a year, there have to be many, many more killings that were fairly straightforward and therefore justified.

[Another David]

Or the police involved in those are just better liars.

[Marshall Gill]

I believe that the FBI stats only count times when charges are filed. Anything determined a "good" kill doesn't count. Even if the NYPD did participate in reporting to the FBI, they still wouldn't include Garner since no charges were filed.

[Paul.]

Hmm, that's not how I'm reading it. From Reason's November article:

But as part of that report, the FBI also analyzed fatal police shootings that are ruled justifiable. Based on those numbers,

http://reason.com/blog/2014/11.....unless-tho

Fatal police shootings... ruled 'justified'.

That's pretty generic. That says nothing about police shootings only ruled unjustified where charges were filed.

Also, I think it's time we get some cleanup of what we're talking about here. Shootings or killings in general. If it's just "shootings" then Eric Garner wouldn't be included because he wasn't shot.

[DJK]

The idea that charges were filed in 450 (or whatever the number was) of 1000 cases is laughable. I would be surprised if the number was over 25.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the site has reported 1,029 people have been killed by police.

1,029 criminals, you mean.

[Andrew S.]

Who are not people, and who do not deserve due process or any of that stuff written in that document by slave owners nearly 100 years ago. Therefore, no people have been killed by officers this year, or ever. QED.

[Keith85]

A kid who steals a candy bar from a store is a criminal, does that make him not a boy? A guy who smokes weed for medicinal purposes is a criminal under federal law? Words have meaning and you should be careful of the way you use them.

[Andrew S.]

Is it possible to account for the number of dogs killed by police? Or has modern math not figured out an easy enough ability to count that high?

[Counterfly]

By my math I come up with 7203.

[Paul.]

I believe Reason reported on this about a year ago and the number was around 250,000.

[SugarFree]

Just another one today: "I Want to Kill the Jew!": Cops Gun Down Synagogue Student's Stabber

[Andrew S.]

You know that this was a legitimate threat because only one shot was fired. I expected to see 5 officers emptying multiple clips on the guy.

[Bill Dalasio]

I don't know. They guy stabbing somebody in the throat kind of makes a good case for a violent police response.

[A Frayed Knot]

Also, ranting around, refusing to drop the knife and stand down for 2+ minutes and then lunging with the knife at a cop. But you know, this is Reason

[SugarFree]

Or I was just mentioned it as a police shooting, not making any comment on the justified nature of it.

[Ron]

What percentage of those killed by the police were active shooter situations ie the police had no choice such as in the Brown case. I think its a shame the activist are hanging their hopes on actual criminals like Brown and Garner instead of the many un justified shootings that have been reported on this site.

[Andrew S.]

Oh, do tell, Tulpa old boy. How was the Garner execution justified?

[sarcasmic]

He failed to obey. Duh.

[Agile Cyborg]

Be it as it may, the Benevolent and Good officers of the community prefer not to share too many details that infer they have performed otherwise so granularity will be sparse, ladies and genitals.

[Counterfly]

Cop wasn't indicted, ergo good shoo..err...choke.

[Ron]

I said Garner was a criminal and I don't believe he was executed by the police I consider it an accident. Just watch a couple of shows of COPS and you will see every person they have to tackle they always have some physical complaint, I saw an old rerun just this weekend where the criminal was complaining about not being able to breath. its so common most cops probably ignore their complaints unless there is an obvious problem. this goes to my next comment the list only shows those killed how about the number of people shot unneccesarily but still live they don't make the list.

[WTF]

What criminal activity was Garner engaging in when the cops accosted him?

[Counterfly]

Conspiracy to resist arrest.

[OldMexican]

Re: WTF,

What criminal activity was Garner engaging in when the cops accosted him?

He was jerking off with Mayor De Blasio's cigarette money. That carries a sentence of death by asphyxiation in a public execution.

Hey, t'Boss needed his money and youse guys needed a lesson!

[WTF]

Of course, Garner reportedly didn't even have any cigarettes on him when the cops killed him.

[Ron]

when you are a 37 time convicted criminal the police do not have to have a reason to search which Garner is and he alone decided to not allow the police to search him if he had he would be alive hence weather or not he had cigarretes is a non issue. the argument is was their excessive force and a racial component to this encounter and was there negligence by the officers.

[OldMexican]

Re: Ron,

when you are a 37 time convicted criminal the police do not have to have a reason to search which Garner is and he alone decided to not allow the police to search him

Understood, Ron. Contempt of cop carries a sentence of death by asphyxiation in a public setting, if not execution by a firing squad of one.

We're reminded of just how horrible it is to defy the State. Lesson learned!

[KDN]

when you are a 37 time convicted criminal the police do not have to have a reason to search

Perpetual probable cause should you ever run afoul of the King's regulations. Boy howdy.

[Bill Dalasio]

when you are a 37 time convicted criminal the police do not have to have a reason to search

Please tell me this is sarcasm. Or satire. An innocent person (which Garner was at that time isn't supposed to be under the obligation to obey whatever a cop says just because the cop feels like it. What you're doing is elevating the police to the level of petty dictators.

[KDN]

What you're doing is elevating the police to the level of petty dictators.

They've always been that. It's half the draw of the job.

The patrolling officer on his beat is the one true dictatorship in America. We can lock a guy up on the humble, lock him up for real, or say fuck it and drink ourselves to death under the expressway and our side partners will cover us. No one - I mean no one - tells us how to waste our shift!

[Bill Dalasio]

Point taken. And I realized it was an awkward formulation at the time.

But, at least in theory, the police aren't supposed to be petty dictators. They're, again, supposed to be agents of the law. When they act like petty dictators, in theory, they're abusing their authority. What Ron/Tulpa is arguing is that they're acting completely within their proper role. That doesn't make sense.

[sarcasmic]

An innocent person ... isn't supposed to be under the obligation to obey whatever a cop says just because the cop feels like it.

Except in reality the job of a cop is to make people comply with whatever he says, and to never admit to being wrong. So if the cop issues an unlawful order, his job is to make people comply anyway, even if it means killing the person. Whatever happens the cop can rest assured that the entire system is set up to protect him no matter what he does.

Naturally this creates infinite incentives for abuse.

[Bill Dalasio]

Sort of like I said to KDN, I won't deny that you're right in practice. My response is to Ron/Tulpa's claim that that is or should be the proper order of things.

[retiredfire]

He was on probation for selling cigarettes, in the past. Someone on probation is required to submit to search as a condition of the probation.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Fuck off Tulpa.

The king's men killed him for selling cigarettes without paying the king's tax.

Obviously a hardened criminal.

You disgust me.

[SRVolunteer]

when you are a 37 time convicted criminal...

He was convicted 37 times? So that means, every time he was arrested, he was convicted of a crime?

How sure are you that the majority of those arrests weren't BS harassment? How many times was he hauled to jail for a few hours only to have the police drop the charges because they had nothing on him except the desire to rough him up and throw him in jail for a few hours?

Because his last words (before he started complaining of breathing difficulty) seem more like the words of a man who is just tired of being messed with.

[Calvinus]

Garner was never CONVICTED of anything.

[Charles Easterly]

"Of course, Garner reportedly didn't even have any cigarettes on him when the cops killed him."

The cops killed him? That's just a distortive overstatement, "WTF" which is plainly disproved by the video evidence, as one astute observer noted.

To wit: "On the videos, Mr. Garner, a 350-pound man who was about to be arrested for illegally selling cigarettes, can be seen first complaining of harassment, then physically resisting arrest by several officers, including Officer Pantaleo, whose arm finds its way around the struggling man's neck."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12......html?_r=0

Officer Pantaleo is clearly not responsible for what Mr. Garner's neck did during the altercation.

Sincerely,

Officer Safety

[Marshall Gill]

I consider it an accident

Negligent homicide is still a very serious crime for us peasants.

I am sure that a heartfelt "Oppps" from the murderous pig will make it all OK.

[SugarFree]

He was deeply remorseful, so it's OK now.

[jesse.in.mb]

Heart. Warmed.

[UnCivilServant]

In a microwave or over a double boiler?

[jesse.in.mb]

Toaster oven, actually.

[SusanM]

Out of a sheer, bloody-minded sense of fairness, you do have to figure the cops hear a lot of bullshit ("these ain't my pants" etc.) during a workday. That doesn't mean that they can't be held accountable for their mistakes.

[Pro Libertate]

Why does a cop get a benefit of the doubt I most assuredly would not? If I were in a situation where I could legally use force against another but used the excessive force that appeared to have occurred here, I would likely at least be tried for that.

[SusanM]

I don't think that they should have been let off the hook with a wink and a smile. I think they should be punished in some way for what they did and I've never said otherwise. Nevertheless, I can see that a guy that hears non-stop bogus injury complaints and empty lawsuit threats all day might not be willing to think that for once some guy is telling the truth.

[SusanM]

And, to answer your question, speaking personally, I'd give you the same benefit of the doubt.

[Pro Libertate]

Does this mean I can legally choke Episiarch? Or, better yet, order him to choke himself?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I said Garner was a criminal

Fuck off Tulpa.

[OldMexican]

Re: Ron,

What percentage of those killed by the police were active shooter situations ie the police had no choice such as in the Brown case.

What kind of question is that? Of course in every single case the police officer had no choice!

That is their story and they stick to it. So there!

[Ron]

Are you fucking stupid are you saying there are no justifiable cases of police shootings.

I used to come to this site to read intelligent comments but the ones I'm seeing today are so idiotic. My comment was clear there are cases of police wrong doing but hanging your protest hat on two criminals one who was clearly a danger to others and the cop and the other a criminal who may or may not have died of police negligence which would have never occurred if he had only obeyed the officer request to search him. this is my last comment of the day because I have to return to work.

[sarcasmic]

Shorter Ron: Obey or die

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I used to come to this site to read intelligent comments but the ones I'm seeing today are so idiotic.

Well please, Tulpa, and I think I speak for the majority here, by all means, STOP coming to this site.

[OldMexican]

Re: Ron,

Are you fucking stupid are you saying there are no justifiable cases of police shootings.

It doesn't matter what *I* say. All police shootings are justified as far as the police and their union bosses are concerned, and that is what ultimately matters to you or me, mere mortals and scum of the Earth.

So don't cross a cop. Obey or die. That is the message.

[LynchPin1477]

active shooter situations ie the police had no choice such as in the Brown case

Brown was unarmed so there is no possible way he could have been an active shooter.

[R C Dean]

active shooter situations ie the police had no choice such as in the Brown case.

Well, except Brown was unarmed.

There's also real problems with the essential police testimony that Brown was charging him at a run being unsupported by the autopsy.

Wilson said he went down at a full run, face-first, with enough momentum to throw his feet up over his back.

Yet the autopsies do not contain any evidence of 300+ lb Brown's face being turned into hamburger by said full-run impact onto the road -- an impact that Officer Wilson says, both on TV and under oath, occurred and to which he was not only a witness but the closest person to it and the person who caused it.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=229628

[retiredfire]

At least one of the "killings" was the result of a vehicular collision, during a high-speed chase.
So the moniker "killing" is at least slightly suspect.

[Calvinus]

Brown was an active shooter now? Aside from possibly shooting off his mouth, nope.

[SugarFree]

And police officers who have been killed through violent criminal action is around 45.

So 22-to-1.

[JPyrate]

Most of those deaths appear to be caused by automobile accidents.

[Counterfly]

So you're saying we should ban cars?

[JPyrate]

Well you don't see many horse ridding accidents on that list now do you.

jk

[Invisible Finger]

I'm OK with banning police cars.

[Doctor Whom]

Don't you want our heroes in blue to make it home safely?

[UnCivilServant]

No, not really.

[Almanian!]

AGAIN WITH THE ELIMUNASHUNIST RHETORICKS!!11!

[UnCivilServant]

They're doing more damage than the criminals (since they are making no effort to catch real criminals are are just revenue generators)

[The Other Kevin]

There was a FB thing going around a few weeks ago about how twice as many cops were killed in the line of duty in the last 10 years than people who were killed by cops. I didn't have the stats to argue at the time. But I did find out that police officer is not even in the top 10 most dangerous jobs. Yes, you can get shot at, so it is more dangerous than a desk job. But in reality it's more dangerous to be a logger, fisher, or iron worker.

[WTF]

It is even more dangerous to be a sanitation worker than a cop.

[kV]

Scroll down to the bottom of the list and look at all of the police dogs that have died at the hands of the police (e.g., left in car and died of heat exhaustion, died of heat exhaustion during training exercise). I'm sure these officers were all prosecuted for their negligence just the same as you or I if we forgot about Fido in a hot car overnight.

[ola]

Well we've gone from three felonies a day to three cop killings a day. What a country.

[Invisible Finger]

Those ARE the three felonies.

[shamrock]

Awesome list, but there appears to be a lot that are not police killings in the true sense. Many are law enforcement or ex-law enforcement who commit murder in the traditional sense. Murder a wife, girlfriend, etc. Those should not be counted.

[Tonio]

No, police killings in the very truest sense. But you seem to want to distinguish between killings done by police while on duty, and those killings they do on their own time, which is somewhat valid.

However: what if a cop murders his girlfriend while on the clock, you know, to claim he was elsewhere? Also, I'd like to see the rate of personal murders conducted by police compared with the murder rate for the general population. Ideally, the cops' rate should be far, far lower - who shall watch these watchmen, and all that.

[dantheserene]

If they were treated like cops rather than little people, they should stay on the listed.
Killed during arrest, double digit sentence actually served in PMITA prison, they can come off the list.

[Brett L]

Thanks guys, this was timely. Some copsucker went into a rant of FB in the comments when I posted about the cop getting fired for not tasing a college kid. "Cops risk their lives every day for strangers, blah, blah, blah.

Apparently, its 10x more dangerous to not be a cop than to be a cop as there are currently 108 officers killed in the line of duty.

[Almanian!]

Yeah, for your ranting FB fwend, "that's your fucking JOB asswipe. If you don't like the risk, find other work."

Fucking shitstains.

[Steve G]

I believe that "protect and serve" nonsense has been completely demolished

[sarcasmic]

They protect and serve each other. That's the joke.

[Invisible Finger]

Three felonies a day.

[ronaldbarrkem]

My buddy's ex-wife makes $84 /hr on the computer . She has been fired from work for 7 months but last month her payment was $13167 just working on the computer for a few hours.
site here ???? http://www.jobsfish.com

[Almanian!]

Well, yeah, there's a TON of bad guys out there. So if cops only had to kill 1000 to keep us safe, that seems REASONable.

/derp

[wef]

Just for some international perspective, Brazilian police killed slightly more than 6 persons per day in 2013.

Pol?cia brasileira mata 6 por dia, diz estudo

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/f.....tudo.shtml

[OldMexican]

Damn! First, China, and now this. Why can't the US be number one in something?

[AD-RtR/OS!]

...and more than 310MM have not.

[ipolitics123]

A long-overdue effort. As long as the government(s) aren't going to provide this information, it's up to us citizens to do it. Three cheers for whoever's running the site.

[soldier1eaodgrn]

Here is my issue with these numbers. If you go through the database and start looking at the separate incidents you will see that there are many that are domestic violence issues or other incidents that did not occur while the officer was on duty performing police duties. By blending these incidents with the "on the job" incidents it seems like you are attempting to pad the numbers to make them seem much worse than they are.

Additionally, the FBI's numbers are based on "on the job" or job related incidents. You guys should go through each incident in that database and remove all non-job related shootings.

[Arthur45]

I'm not sure why anyone gives a damn about the number of people killed by police.
It would be informative to see just how many of those deaths could reasonably be
questioned as unnecessary. Considering the past several "questionable" deaths of Blacks as an indicator, I will confidently assume that number to be "not many." These so-called
questionable deaths lately have actually proven how well th epolice are doing their job, certain officers notwithstanding. Another statistic - how many arrests have the police made over that same period? I believe the rate at which citizens are being killed by police is around one per 250,000.
So what's the rate for unnecessary killings? My seat of the pants estimate is one per 5 miilion. That's my high estimate - my low estimate would be one per 10 million. I'm not going to lose sleep over that kill rate, which sounds more like an accidental kil rate, which cannot be reduced

[geral]

Many more killed by covert intel:

Our world is run by evil incarnate in the fbi,cia, dod, police and all who support their murderous offenses against humanity & against our Maker.
Psychological Operations Are Quite Diabolic:

http://sosbeevfbi.ning.com/pro.....e=activity

Fbi assaults me intensely in retaliation:

http://portland.indymedia.org/.....0364.shtml

He deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

Proverbs. 6:14-19