US police kill more than two people a dayy
AFP
US police have killed people at a rate of more than two a day this year, The Washington Post reported yesterday, using its own tally for lack of complete federal statistics, reports AFP. The federal government must rely on partial data because the countrys 17,000 or so state and local police agencies are not required to report such killings. The newspaper is tracking the deaths as a national debate rages over police use of deadly force, especially in black and other minority communities. The Post found that relative to the overall population, blacks were killed at three times the rate of other minorities or whites in the police killings it analyzed this year. The report noted that most of the people killed were armed with potentially lethal objects -- mainly guns, but also knives and other items. Sixteen percent were carrying a toy or were unarmed. The Post found that so far this year, at least 385 people have been shot and killed by police across the United States -- a rate of more than two a day.
