Police in the US use force on at least 300,000 people each year, injuring an estimated 100,000 of them, according to a groundbreaking data analysis on law enforcement encounters.
Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group that tracks killings by US police, launched a new database on Wednesday cataloging non-fatal incidents of police use of force, including stun guns, chemical sprays, K9 dog attacks, neck restraints, beanbags and baton strikes.
The database features incidents from 2017 through 2022, compiled from public records requests in every state. The findings, the group says, suggest that despite widespread protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, overall use of force has remained steady since then – and in many jurisdictions, has increased.
In this situation it would be classified as “Exigent Circumstances” and would give the police the right to enter private property without a search warrant or consent. That is because they can witness someone committing a crime. They would also be justified in using enough force to stop the crime from happening. I don’t think they would be justified if they pulled out a gun, killed the perpetrator, and the perpetrator didn’t have any weapons nor acted like they had one. They should go for non-lethal means first.
Okay, so wouldn’t it be useful to know how many of those 300,000 times when they used force matched this criteria?
Okay, so wouldn’t it be good to know for these 1000 people who the police killed, how many of them fit this criteria?
It seems like a useful question. No?