POLICE KILLINGS IN AMERICA

By Leavie Scott

October 23, 2026

Across the United States, conversations about police use of force often begin with a single incident: a fatal encounter, a grieving family, a police statement, a video, or a community demanding answers. But behind those individual cases is a much larger national story.

How many people are killed by police? Where are these deaths occurring? Are some communities affected at higher rates than others? And how can the public understand long-term patterns rather than focusing only on cases receiving widespread media attention?

One effort to answer those questions is the Police Killings Data Archive.

The archive describes itself as the product of more than a decade of research and data collection led by Samuel Sinyangwe. It contains detailed information concerning more than 15,000 cases of fatal police violence across the United States between 2013 and 2026.

The collection provides something individual news reports cannot provide on their own: an opportunity to examine fatal police encounters collectively and consider patterns across time and geography.

More Than 15,000 Cases

The scale of the archive is significant.

More than 15,000 documented cases between 2013 and 2026 represent thousands of individual encounters involving police agencies, officers, victims, families, and communities across the country.

The archive is being permanently preserved as its organization expands its work beyond fatal encounters toward collecting and publishing information about police use of force more broadly.

GRAPH 1: SCALE OF THE ARCHIVE

POLICE KILLINGS DATA ARCHIVE

2013 ─────────────────────────────── 2026

15,000+

DOCUMENTED CASES

OF FATAL POLICE VIOLENCE

ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

Those numbers illustrate why national data matters.

One fatal encounter can tell us what happened in a particular community. Thousands of cases examined together can help researchers identify larger patterns and questions that deserve further investigation.

Hundreds of Deaths Documented in 2026

Mapping Police Violence reported that police had killed at least 712 people in 2026, based on data updated through August 18, 2026.

That date is important.

The figure should not be considered the final total for the entire 2026 calendar year because the reported database update did not cover the remainder of the year.

GRAPH 2: DOCUMENTED POLICE KILLINGS IN 2026

0 200 400 600 712

|----------|----------|----------|=========●

712+

documented deaths

as of the

Aug. 18 data update

The data source also reported that police killed more than three people per day on average during 2025.

Numbers of this magnitude demonstrate why fatal encounters involving police remain an important subject for systematic research and public discussion.

Race and Police Killings

One of the most significant questions raised by police-violence data involves race.

Mapping Police Violence reported that Black people were killed by police at nearly three times the population rate of White people.

Understanding what that statistic means is important.

It does not mean that the raw number of Black people killed was necessarily three times the raw number of White people killed.

It is a population-adjusted rate.

Researchers compare the frequency of deaths with the size of the population being examined. This allows groups of different population sizes to be compared more meaningfully.

This represents a measurable racial disparity.

However, the statistic by itself does not establish the cause of that disparity. Determining why disparities exist requires examining additional evidence and the circumstances surrounding individual encounters.

For journalists, policymakers, community leaders, and researchers, that distinction is important. Statistics can identify a pattern. Understanding the causes behind that pattern requires further investigation.

MAP: POLICE KILLINGS ACROSS AMERICA

[INSERT UNITED STATES POLICE-KILLINGS MAP HERE]

Map Caption:

Police killings across America: A national map illustrates the geographic distribution of documented fatal police encounters across the United States.

The Police Killings Data Archive includes maps and charts designed to allow people to explore records of fatal police violence geographically.

A national total by itself cannot show where incidents are occurring. A map provides another perspective, allowing readers to visualize how fatal police encounters are distributed across the country.

Every Number Represents a Person

Statistics are powerful, but they can sometimes make tragedy appear abstract.

The more than 15,000 cases contained in the archive are not merely numbers on a chart.

Every case represents a person whose life ended during an encounter involving law enforcement.

Behind those deaths are families, friends, police officers, agencies, neighborhoods, and communities dealing with the consequences.

Individual circumstances can also vary dramatically from case to case.

That is why responsible examination of police violence requires looking at both the national picture and the individual facts.

National statistics can identify patterns. Individual case records can provide the context necessary to understand what happened.

Neither should automatically substitute for the other.

PICTURE 1: COMMUNITY AND POLICING

[INSERT PHOTO OF POLICE AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS]

Caption:

Police-community interactions occur every day across the United States. National data allows researchers and the public to examine fatal encounters as part of a larger picture.

PICTURE 2: COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

[INSERT PHOTO OF A PEACEFUL COMMUNITY MEETING OR PUBLIC FORUM]

Caption:

Community conversations about policing, accountability, and public safety continue as researchers examine national patterns involving police use of force.

PICTURE 3: THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE DATA

[INSERT RESPECTFUL PHOTO REPRESENTING FAMILIES OR COMMUNITY MEMBERS]

Caption:

Behind every statistical record is a human life and a community affected by the circumstances surrounding a fatal encounter.

Why Long-Term Data Matters

News coverage naturally focuses on events happening now.

A controversial police encounter may dominate the news for days or weeks. Investigations follow. Public discussions develop. Eventually, attention shifts somewhere else.

Long-term data makes it possible to step outside that cycle.

Instead of asking only:

“What happened in this particular case?”

Researchers can examine broader questions:

• Are fatal police encounters increasing or decreasing?

• Where are deaths occurring?

• Are racial disparities persistent?

• How have patterns changed over time?

• What circumstances surround fatal encounters?

• Are certain communities experiencing different outcomes?

The Police Killings Data Archive covers cases spanning 2013 through 2026, creating a multiyear body of information for examining fatal police violence.

A single year can present only one part of the picture. More than a decade of information provides a broader foundation for studying whether patterns continue or change over time.

The Difference Between Evidence and Conclusions

Police violence is an emotionally and politically charged subject.

That makes responsible reporting especially important.

Numbers should neither be exaggerated nor minimized.

For example, saying that at least 712 people had been killed by police in 2026 without mentioning the August 18 database update could give readers the mistaken impression that 712 represents the final 2026 total.

It does not.

The reported figure reflects the information contained in that database update.

Likewise, reporting that Black people are killed at nearly three times the population-adjusted rate of White people is different from claiming that the statistic alone proves why the disparity exists.

Good data journalism requires maintaining these distinctions.

The numbers tell an important story, but the numbers must be presented accurately and responsibly.

Accountability Begins With Information

Arguments surrounding policing can quickly become divided.

Some people focus on officer safety and the dangerous situations law-enforcement officers can encounter.

Others concentrate on excessive force, racial disparities, police reform, transparency, and accountability.

Those conversations can begin with evidence rather than assumptions.

Reliable national information allows citizens, researchers, policymakers, journalists, community organizations, and law-enforcement agencies to ask better questions.

If particular communities experience unusually high numbers or rates of fatal police encounters, researchers can examine those communities more closely.

If racial disparities appear repeatedly over a long period, those disparities can be studied.

When law-enforcement policies change, data can also provide researchers with information for examining what happened before and after those changes.

A database alone cannot settle every national debate concerning policing.

What it can do is provide evidence that contributes to those discussions.

A Permanent Record

Perhaps one of the most important functions of the Police Killings Data Archive is preservation.

Individual news stories eventually disappear from the headlines.

Cases that once generated widespread public discussion may receive little attention years later outside the families and communities directly affected.

A historical database gives those incidents a continuing place in the national record.

The archive contains information concerning more than 15,000 cases between 2013 and 2026.

Preserving that information allows journalists, researchers, organizers, historians, and members of the public to examine police violence across multiple years rather than depending only on current headlines.

The greater effort is also expanding beyond deaths toward the broader collection and analysis of police use-of-force information.

That could help widen the conversation.

Police violence is not exclusively about encounters ending in death. Understanding policing more comprehensively also requires examining the wider range of interactions involving force between law-enforcement officers and members of the public.

The Story Behind the Numbers

Understanding police killings in America requires more than reacting to the latest video or headline.

It requires examining years of evidence.

It requires understanding the difference between total numbers and population-adjusted rates.

It requires recognizing what statistics establish while refusing to claim more than the available evidence demonstrates.

Most importantly, it requires remembering that a database containing more than 15,000 cases represents more than 15,000 human lives.

The Police Killings Data Archive preserves a historical record of fatal police violence spanning 2013 through 2026.

The continuing challenge for the country is determining what can be learned from that history, what additional research is necessary, and what policies can improve public safety while protecting human life.

Data cannot answer every question.

But reliable information gives Americans a stronger foundation for asking difficult questions about policing, race, public safety, accountability, and the value of human life.

By Leavie Scott

October 23, 2026

Data Sources:
Police Killings Data Archive
Mapping Police Violence

Editorial Note: The 2026 figure referenced in this article reflects data reported through the August 18, 2026 update and should not be interpreted as the final total for the entire 2026 calendar year.

Changes made: All website links and citation markers have been removed while retaining the source names, statistics, map placement, graphs, picture placements, and full news-story format.