Law Enforcement–Perpetrated Homicides. Tom Barker
example, accidental gunshot deaths appear to be a policy and training issue; pursuit deaths may involve training, policy development, and increased supervision; suicide by cop seems to require mental health awareness and de-escalation training, and numerous police homicides are the result of poor vetting. From a criminal justice perspective, the types are useful to academics, students, and practitioners. The professional law enforcement community can use this tool for research and planning, the development of policies and procedures, supported by training, and the appropriate discipline.
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Accidental LEO-Perpetrated Homicides
Introduction
In order to assess the actual volume and seriousness of LEO-perpetrated homicides it is necessary to identify and make accurate estimates of the amount of each type. That is not possible at this time; however, progress is being made—witness the proposed typology and the search for reliable data. Reliable statistics on the full range of LEO homicides identified in the Typology of Police-Perpetrated Homicides are not currently available. That is understandable. In our fragmented law enforcement system police-perpetrated homicides occur in agencies from one sworn member to thousands of sworn members. These agencies vary in their adoption of professional standards proposed by professional associations such as the International Association of Chief’s of Police. As independent actors not subject to national standards some agencies record or report these homicides; however, most do not. Nevertheless, there are attempts to provide more information and more accurate estimates.
Zimring estimates that the annual U.S. death toll from police shootings is “well over 1,000 civilians each year—three killings a day” (Zimring, 2017). His estimate is based on the existing official records and open-source data following the national attention on the spate of police shootings of unarmed black men in 2014 and 2015. This estimate is not supported by official data that measures different categories-types—of police homicides.
Official Sources
Three government sources provide limited information on “on-duty” killings—police homicides—by U.S. LEOs, that is, police-perpetrated homicides. The National Center for Health Statistics of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists a separate category of deaths called “legal interventions.” These are “deaths caused by the police or other law enforcement agents including military on duty, in the course of arresting or attempting to arrest lawbreakers, suppressing disturbances, maintaining order and other legal actions” (quoted in Barber, et al., May 2016). Legal intervention deaths come from death certificates that explicitly mention that the victim died at the hands of a police officer. This narrow definition leads to serious undercounting of police homicides. A second source, the FBI’s Supplemental Homicide Reporting System is based on reports of “felons killed by the police” submitted by local police and sheriffs departments as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting system administered by the FBI. The deficiencies of the UCR are well known. In addition, homicides committed on federal property or by federal agents, non-lethal device deaths, and accidental killings are not reported. Even more troubling is that the UCR reporting system is voluntary, and many agencies do not report their homicides. The third official source is Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD). These homicides only apply to in-custody deaths. In sum, these official sources present an incomplete description of the nature and situational circumstances under which police-perpetrated homicides occur. The nature and circumstances of each homicide are necessary for an understanding of police-perpetrated homicides.
Improving the Police Homicide Data Sources
In an effort to provide more situational information on police homicides, Zimring (2017) supplemented his 1,000 annual police shooting deaths estimate with data from mass media open-source outlets. These sources assess and document LEO homicides from social media sources that sprung up since 2014. Operating under the assumption that known police killings became media events, one can reasonably assume internet listings such as Wikipedia can with caution be useful in identifying the nature and circumstances of LEO homicides (Zimring & Arsingiega, 2015). An advantage of crowdsourced data is that both sides are portrayed—police and other interested parties. Police agencies cannot be trusted as reliable sources because of their notorious impression-management techniques when reporting possibly damaging information (Barker, 2011).
Zimring (2017) opined that the official data supplemented by crowdsourcing (open-source) data provides a better method to estimate police shooting homicides until comprehensive official statistics become available. The combination of official data and mass media sources is the only way to identify the nature and types of LEO-perpetrated homicides at this time. However, as reported earlier, Zimring (2017) cautions that the “shooting deaths only” distinction of police killings results in many police homicides being omitted. .
The Typology of Law Enforcement–Perpetrated Homicides indicates that some LEO-caused homicides are intentional, such as justified shooting, some are accidental—friendly fire deaths or driving while distracted, others