heninthefoxhouse

I'll tell you a ball-buster. 9 percent of the homicides in Nevada are committed by police. Go to the FBI site: http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/State/StatebyState.cfm Select Nevada then select Number of Violent Crimes then select years 2000-2012. Add the column Murder and nonnegligent manslaughters. The answer is 2,226.

Then go here, http://www.fatalencounters.org/people-search/ Select Nevada, select Counties "all" then subtract the result from the 212 total killings for years 2013 and 2012; that results in 197 officer-involved killings 2000-2012 (again, while it's as comprehensive as I could make it, I know police left stuff out of the public records request response.)

That's 197/2226x100 is about 9 percent. I suppose it's possible some of the police killings were included as nonnegligent homicides, but that would actually bring the bottom line percentage up, wouldn't it. Feel free to check my math, and again, that police number is conservative.

I wish somebody would check my math and prove me wrong because that shit freaks me out.

The law was written in 1994 requiring the Department of Justice to collect this data. That agency has ignored the law for 20 years: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140822/07034228290/federal-law-ordering-us-attorney-general-to-gather-data-police-excessive-force-has-been-ignored-20-years.shtml

Hmm. Not really on the database, per se. The reporting that's gone on in the newspaper has gotten a lot of pushback with agencies and individuals lying to my face, breaking the law by withholding public documents, trying to punish me by giving information to other media outlets first. Reno News & Review, March 20, 2014: http://www.newsreview.com/reno/who-shot-darcie-latham/content?oid=12996582 and then look at what came out yesterday: http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Sparks-Police-To-Release-Details-On-273072911.html We didn't even get a press release because they were mad at me for telling the story back in March.

Four ways to help: Data, cash, public records and lists.

Data: Go here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aul9Ys3cd80fdDdQR0JPMkhNR3hWdGE5Uy1vLWNGMGc#gid=3 find a line that interests you, check the name against the database, http://www.fatalencounters.org/people-search/, do the internet research with what's provided, and add all the information that you can get accurately correct on this form: http://www.fatalencounters.org/google-form/ You can also add new incidents that are neither on the Google Spreadsheet or in the database by name search to the form: http://www.fatalencounters.org/google-form

Cash: You can donate here via Paypal: http://www.fatalencounters.org/donate/ I've done this project on a shoestring with my own money. I use donations to pay for "public" documents. Charging exorbitant fees for collecting documents is one way agencies block journalists from getting information, since generally it's the agency's choice whether to charge or not, and very few journalism outfits can afford the fees. I'm $800 in just for Nevada and Ada County, Idaho, docs. I'm paying some of the fact checkers for specific duties, for example, one's a single mother in Frederick, MD (near where Ethan Saylor was killed, she knew him), who also helps take care of her special needs brother. I've also sent donations to others who help the cause, for example, the Facebook Killed by Police group, which is the most comprehensive list of contemporaneous deaths, is a retired person who had never received a cent's help for his efforts. https://www.facebook.com/KilledByPolice Obviously, there are day-to-day costs like stamps, server space, etc. I've also had to take several classes to learn technical stuff, like a bit of coding and app design, but I was doing the master's anyway.

Public records: I don't believe this database of all state and local law enforcement agencies existed in public before I created it for this project. Go here http://www.fatalencounters.org/for-public-record-requests/ and pick a state or a state and county that interests you. Create the mailing list and write the public records requests. Contact me before you mail it, and let me know who you're FOIA-ing in case someboy else is working on that one. (For example, just this week, a lawyer in Texas, Scott A. Hooper, got the information and FOIA'd ever single agency in Texas, but one day later, a Twitter follower, Kyle, FOIA'd Garland, TX.)

Lists or sites: Send me links to lists, like this one: http://www.inlander.com/Bloglander/archives/2014/03/27/latest-spokane-officer-involved-shooting-marks-fourth-of-2014 that we can further research. Maybe your state has a central repository, like Maine, http://www.maine.gov/ag/news/shooting_reports.shtml that will enable researchers to get to a lot of information quickly.

*This is the edit: Special assistance: I could use different kinds of specialized assistance like maybe a lawyer who could help with starting a 501(c)3. Coding advice is helpful. I'm going to do a redesign in January. People from around the world have been downloading the spreadsheet from which the database is populated and sending me visualizations and other cool useful art: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aul9Ys3cd80fdHNuRG5VeWpfbnU4eVdIWTU3Q0xwSEE#gid=0 *

I appreciate any and all help, and for any questions on any topic, email me at [email protected]

The biggest trend I notice is that killings go up immediately following a big event, like Mike Brown's. There have been 68 killings by police since his death. My feeling is both the police and those they protect and serve have heightened sensitivity to threats and therefore react faster and more instinctually.