Washington Post Unveils Interactive Police Shooting Database

June 14th, 2016

Awake Goy

The Washington Post has unveiled an investigatory tool that tracks police shootings. All sorts of information and statistics are available to anyone interested. The total amount of people killed by police, as well as a breakdown by age, gender, race, mental illness and other contributing factors. There is even an overview of police shootings by state so you can visualize which state has the most deadly cops. As of right now New Mexico is the most deadly state with a capita of 4.69 per million residents. Interestingly enough Rhode Island hasn’t had an officer involved shooting this year.

As you explore the database more you will find other statistics, like the names of one in five officers involved in fatal shootings go undisclosed. Twenty percent of officers who kill someone are never identified let alone suffer the consequences of their actions. If that isn’t telling of a certain class of people being elevated above another based on their position and title, I don’t know what is.

There is a compare and contrast between this year and last years fatal shootings and keeping in tradition, the police have killed more people at this date than they had last year, placing 2016 on track to be the most violent year for police, since the Iraq War started. Every victims name is accompanied by a small bio and a short overview of the actions leading up to their death. The website serves as a sort of memorial to the lives taken because of mindless and violent enforcement of unjust laws, as well as an interactive education resource.

Not only is there information about police shooting victims but there is information on the latest in police culture and ideas to curb police violence. While ideas like the Guardian’s: The Counted and now this new resource from the Washington Post are late to the party, it goes to show that even the mainstream is starting to realize their is a problem within the institution of policing and not just with a few bad apples.

Contributors at CopBlock.org have been highlighting police murder and misconduct for almost six years now and the entire time have been hounded by copsuckers and servants of the state religion but all anyone had to do was look for themselves and they too would see the monster that the thin blue line has created. Police do not exist to protect and serve anyone other than the state and the individuals who claim its legitimacy.

While multiple tools and websites might be popping up to help track the statistics behind police killings and offer a visual aid to assist in picturing the number of people who are killed by police; CopBlock is the idea that “badges don’t grant extra rights” and as such the contributors here work tirelessly to highlight misconduct, assist victims of police abuse and present alternatives to the state monopoly on force. This is what sets us apart from the mainstream or anyone just writing about police brutality, instead of regurgitating information, the CopBlock Network contributors offer alternatives and solutions to the looming police state.