Police across America are killing more people than FBI statistics show, it has been revealed today. An official tally misses hundreds of fatal shootings by law-enforcement officers between 2007 and 2012 . More than 550 killings by police were not reported to the FBI over the five-year period, according to fresh analysis. Official FBI statistics miss out hundreds of fatal shootings by law-enforcement officers between 2007 and 2012 (file picture) It comes amid calls for greater transparency over such killings after Michael Brown was shot dead by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, in August. The Wall Street Journal asked for the internal records on fatal shootings by police from America’s 110 biggest police departments and received figures from 105 of them. The newspaper says it counted up 1,800 such killings from the figures supplied between 2007 and 2012. But this was about 45 per cent more than the FBI’s figure for ‘justifiable homicides’ in those departments which was 1,242. The Journal says its findings show that ‘it is nearly impossible to determine how many people are killed by the police each year’. It quotes Alexia Cooper, who studies the FBI data in her position at the Bureau of Justice Statistics, as saying: 'Does the FBI know every agency in the U.S. that could report but has chosen not to? The answer is no. There have been  calls for more transparency over fatal shootings by police after the death in August of Michael Brown in Ferguson (file picture) 'What we know is that some places have chosen not to report these, for whatever reason.' Local law-enforcement agencies are not necessarily required to provide the FBI with records, including data showing which killings were carried out by police, cbsnews reports. The Journal quotes an FBI spokesman as saying that the agency uses 'established statistical methodologies and norms' when reviewing data sent to it by agencies. He said the FBI then checks the information it is given and asks each agency 'to correct or verify questionable data'. Cbsnews quotes Lori Lightfoot, a lawyer with experience of investigating police shootings for the Chicago police department, as saying: 'A police officer is not like a normal citizen who discharges their weapon. 'There is a presumption that somebody who is a peace officer, and is thereby authorized to use lethal force, used it correctly.'
More than 550 killings by police not included in FBI figures between 2007 and 2012 .
Analysis of 105 police departments shows there were 1,800 such deaths over the five-year period .
But this was 45 per cent more than FBI's figure for those departments .
Police across America are killing more people than FBI statistics show, it has been revealed today. An official tally misses hundreds of fatal shootings by law-enforcement officers between 2007 and 2012 . More than 550 killings by police were not reported to the FBI over the five-year period, according to fresh analysis. Official FBI statistics miss out hundreds of fatal shootings by law-enforcement officers between 2007 and 2012 (file picture) It comes amid calls for greater transparency over such killings after Michael Brown was shot dead by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, in August. The Wall Street Journal asked for the internal records on fatal shootings by police from America’s 110 biggest police departments and received figures from 105 of them. The newspaper says it counted up 1,800 such killings from the figures supplied between 2007 and 2012. But this was about 45 per cent more than the FBI’s figure for ‘justifiable homicides’ in those departments which was 1,242. The Journal says its findings show that ‘it is nearly impossible to determine how many people are killed by the police each year’. It quotes Alexia Cooper, who studies the FBI data in her position at the Bureau of Justice Statistics, as saying: 'Does the FBI know every agency in the U.S. that could report but has chosen not to? The answer is no. There have been  calls for more transparency over fatal shootings by police after the death in August of Michael Brown in Ferguson (file picture) 'What we know is that some places have chosen not to report these, for whatever reason.' Local law-enforcement agencies are not necessarily required to provide the FBI with records, including data showing which killings were carried out by police, cbsnews reports. The Journal quotes an FBI spokesman as saying that the agency uses 'established statistical methodologies and norms' when reviewing data sent to it by agencies. He said the FBI then checks the information it is given and asks each agency 'to correct or verify questionable data'. Cbsnews quotes Lori Lightfoot, a lawyer with experience of investigating police shootings for the Chicago police department, as saying: 'A police officer is not like a normal citizen who discharges their weapon. 'There is a presumption that somebody who is a peace officer, and is thereby authorized to use lethal force, used it correctly.'
2007 and 2012 . More than 550 killings by police were not reported to the FBI over the five-year up 1,800 such killings from the figures supplied between 2007 and 2012. But this was about 45 per cent more than the FBI’s figure for ‘justifiable homicides’ in those departments which was 1,242.