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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

The Counted

People killed by police in the US, recorded by the Guardian – with your help

Findings and impact

A 2015/16 Guardian investigation revealed the true number of people killed by law enforcement, told the stories of who they were, and established the trends in how they died. The US government responded
  • Four Police Officers Killed During Anti-Police Brutality March In Dallas<br>DALLAS, TX - JULY 7: Dallas police and residents stand near the scene where four Dallas police officers were shot and killed on July 7, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. According to reports, shots were fired during a protest being held in downtown Dallas in response to recent fatal shootings of two black men by police - Alton Sterling on July 5, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile on July 6, 2016, in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

    Influenced by the Counted
    Killings by US police logged at twice the previous rate under new federal program

    US government pilot program, which draws on information collected by the Guardian, publishes first data gathered under new ‘hybrid’ counting system
  • Michael Brown protests

    If you value the Guardian’s work to count police killings, please support our efforts

    Lee Glendinning
  • A protestor demonstrates in front of a line of police officers in solidarity with protests over the Baltimore death of Freddie Gray, in Chicago, Illinois, April 28, 2015. Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died in Baltimore police custody on April 19. REUTERS/Jim Young

    2015
    Young black men killed by US police at highest rate

  • map of police killings

    Explore locations
    The definitive map of US police killings in 2015 and 2016

  • The Counted composite AMENDED

    Interactive database
    People killed by police in the US in 2015 and 2016

  • The FBI director, James Comey

    FBI director
    'Unacceptable' that Guardian has better data on police violence

In depth

A series of special reports digging deeper into the Guardian’s findings on the use of deadly force by police
  • The Counted moving targets

    Moving targets
    Police act against federal guidelines with shootings into moving cars

  • The Counted illustration

    Forced to fire
    Are US police hiding behind 'suicide by cop' shootings?

  • the counted taser illustration

    Bolts from the blue
    The phenomenon of US police, Tasers and sudden death

  • the counted conflicts illustration

    Ties that bind
    How the bond between police and prosecutors impedes justice

The county

A five-part series examining Kern County, California, where police killed more people per capita than in any other American county in 2015
  • kern county

    California
    Two 'deadliest' police departments in US to be investigated

  • Kern County

    The County
    The story of America's deadliest police

    • Kern County police officer arresting suspect

      Part two
      Kern County: where deputies dole out rough justice

    • Karen Frye kern county day 3

      Part three
      Sexual assault and the price of silence

    • A sheriff's deputy in Wasco, California.

      Part four
      Partners in crime

Backstory

How the US government stopped counting killings by police – and then restarted following the Guardian’s investigation
  • A man, who was demanding the criminal indictment of a white police officer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager in August, holds an image of Michael Brown outside the Ferguson Police Station in Missouri November 24, 2014. A St. Louis Country prosecutor is expected to make an announcement later on Monday on the grand jury that has been reviewing whether to charge a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in the August shooting of an unarmed black teen, CNN reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement source. The grand jury has been meeting for more than three months, considering the Aug. 9 incident in which white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown. REUTERS/Adrees Latif (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

    The uncounted
    Why the US can't keep track of people killed by police

  • Police are not required to report to the federal government when they kill someone. The autonomy of local police in this regard is thoroughly American.

    Revealed
    Inside the search for the real number of police killings in the US

  • New York Michael Brown Eric Garner

    FBI
    Eric Garner and Tamir Rice among those missing from record of police killings

  • bureau of justice statistics police killings

    After the Counted
    US government database hopes to tell 'whole story' of police killings

Other highlights

  • the counted map

    By the numbers
    US police kill more in days than other countries do in years

  • Loretta Lynch and James Comey

    Guardian editorial
    Why we must keep counting

    • Bernie Sanders campaigns in Columbia, South Carolina<br>epa05178571 US Democratic presidential hopeful and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders gestures at a press conference on the subject of poverty in Columbia, South Carolina, USA, 24 February 2016. The South Carolina Democratic presidential primary is 27 February 2016. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

      Bernie Sanders
      Police should be obliged to report all officer-involved deaths

    • Feiden Santana, who filmed polkice shooting of Walter Scott

      'I dream about it every night'
      What happens to Americans who film police violence?

    • cassandra bolin the counted

      Never before named
      Five people killed by police the world forgot

Video

Seen elsewhere

  • 'Guardian' Database Highlights Underreporting Of People Killed By Police

    NPR

  • U.S. needs database for police shootings

    Charleston Post and Courier

    • A new era of police accountability is all for the public good

      Dallas Morning News

    • Police killings are public health data and can be counted

      Harvard Medical School researchers

    • Where Police Have Killed Americans In 2015

      FiveThirtyEight

    • How Many People Are Killed by Police? We’re Only Beginning to Find Out

      The Nation

    • Louisiana ranked No. 9 in police killings so far in 2015, according to The Guardian

      New Orleans Times-Picayune

    • Officer Involved

      The Intercept
Loads more stories and moves focus to first new story.

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