Colorado FBI data on fatal police shootings shows gaps, per report
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A new investigation suggests FBI data is incomplete when it comes to tallying fatal shootings by officers and deputies across local law enforcement agencies nationwide, including in Colorado.
Why it matters: The official data paints a partial picture of law enforcement's use of deadly force at a time when it's under scrutiny.
- Flawed federal data also can complicate efforts to curb killings and hold troubled agencies accountable.
Driving the news: Discrepancies appear between the number of fatal police shootings reported in the FBI's database between 2015 and 2021 compared to an independent analysis recently published by the Washington Post.
- 58% of Colorado's fatal police shootings over the seven-year period are absent from FBI data, the analysis shows. The reasons are unclear.
By the numbers: At least 75 fatal police-involved shootings in Colorado are missing from the FBI database since 2015.
- The Denver Police Department saw the largest discrepancy at 12 unreported deaths involving officers.
- At least four agencies — the sheriff departments in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and El Paso counties — did not appear to report any fatal shootings involving deputies, collectively leaving 30 deaths uncounted.
Context: Local law enforcement agencies are required by law to share crime data with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which relays that data to the FBI through the national Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.
- However, it's not mandatory to report officer-involved shootings, and many of those incidents might be recorded under a different category, Chris Andrist, deputy director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, told us.
- Some departments that submitted their statistics could be missing from the FBI's data if they did not meet federal coding standards, the Post reports.
Details: Agencies with the highest fatal shooting rates per 1,000 officers during that time frame include police departments in Pueblo (11), Greeley (7.6) and Arvada (6.7), according to the Post's analysis.
- By comparison, Denver Police's rate was 3.5, while Aurora and Colorado Springs police departments totaled 3.1 and 4.2, respectively.
What they're saying: Denver and other local law enforcement agencies tell Axios they follow federal guidelines and report all deaths.
- A Pueblo police department spokesperson said the agency is "taking steps … to make sure all incidents are accounted for and reported accurately."
The big picture: Fewer than 300 local departments nationwide reported all deadly police shootings to the FBI between 2015 and 2021, the Washington Post investigation reveals.
- The Post's findings also show that officers have shot and killed more people every year since 2015, reaching a record of 1,047 deaths last year — a direct contradiction to FBI data, which shows a nationwide decline the past seven years.
Flashback: Last year, the FBI retired its nearly century-old crime data collection program and switched to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which gathers more specific information on each incident.
- "This is all kind of new, so it might take a while for everybody to get on board," Andrist said.
The other side: "What is not measured is the number of times officers do not use deadly force when they would otherwise be legally justified," Pueblo Police Department spokesperson Dustin Taylor told Axios Denver.