WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday said the federal government needs to keep track of how many individuals are injured or killed by police officers, as well as keep better records of officer fatalities. Recent high-profile incidents in which police officers have killed unarmed citizens have called attention to the lack of a proper count of how many people are killed by police officers each year. Speaking at a Justice Department event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. on Thursday, Holder said obtaining better data on police shootings, as well as police officer deaths, is the “first step” in working toward ensuring police officers’ safety and upholding the rights of citizens. “I’ve heard from a number of people who …
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday said the federal government needs to keep track of how many individuals are injured or killed by police officers, as well as keep better records of officer fatalities.
Recent high-profile incidents in which police officers have killed unarmed citizens have called attention to the lack of a proper count of how many people are killed by police officers each year. Speaking at a Justice Department event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. on Thursday, Holder said obtaining better data on police shootings, as well as police officer deaths, is the “first step” in working toward ensuring police officers’ safety and upholding the rights of citizens.
“I’ve heard from a number of people who have called on policymakers to ensure better record-keeping on injuries and deaths that occur at the hands of police. I’ve also spoken with law enforcement leaders — including the leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police — who have urged elected officials to consider strategies for collecting better data on officer fatalities. Today, my response to these legitimate concerns is simple: We need to do both,” Holder said.
“This would represent a common-sense step that would begin to address serious concerns about police officer safety, as well as the need to safeguard civil liberties,” Holder continued. “The troubling reality is that we lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of incidents of either uses of force directed at police officers or uses of force by police.”
Holder suggested that law enforcement agencies may lack “sufficient incentives” to report officer-involved shootings, and said many local agencies also don’t properly report the injuries and deaths of police officers.
“This strikes many — including me — as unacceptable,” Holder said. “Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind.”
Source:
