Police killings

The U.S. Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. This law  requires the U.S. Attorney General to collect data and publish an annual report on the excessive use of force by police. 

The two national data systems are :

• National Vital Statistics System ( NVSS )  maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics
• Uniform Crime Reporting Program ( UCR ) maintained by the FBI

A study published in 2003 analyzed data from 1976 to 1998 and concluded that " reliable estimates of the number of justifiable homicides committed by police in the U.S. do not exist".  They found that both systems under-reported justifiable homicides by police officers. The NVSS relies on death certificate filings which do not systematically document if a homicide was justifiable nor whether police officers were involved.  The UCR relies on voluntary reporting by state and local law enforcement agencies which was found to not include all applicable incidents. 

Another study, published in 2004, found that police killings in Central Florida from 1999 to 2002 were under-reported in the national databases. When compared to local news media reports, they found that only one in four reports made it to the national databases. 



Reported killings by police officers in the U.S. by year:

Below are links to lists of killings by law enforcement officers in the U.S.. 


​2016   Searchable Database    www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2016/

2015    Database by State      www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings/ 


2013 ; 2012 ; 2011 ; 2010 ; 2009 ; prior to 2009