how many people are shot by police in the U.S. annually?
Someone sent me an email asking if I had statistics on the number of people shot by police in the United States on an annual basis. The short answer is: I don’t have those statistics and I am not aware of any one entity that routinely compiles those statistics on a national level. The most recent national level statistical report on use of force incidents (not just with firearms) that I am aware of is almost ten years old (October 1999) and was produced by the US Department of Justice. It is titled Use of Force by Police -Overview of National and Local Data. I referenced it and linked to it in a previous post you can also check here. When referencing the Use of Force by Police report by DOJ, keep in mind the following quote from that same report: “The incidence of wrongful use of force by police is unknown. Research is critically needed to determine reliably,validly, and precisely how often transgressions of use-of-force powers occur. We do not know how often police use force in ways t
