American Indians Killed by Cops at Highest Rate in the Nation, but They're Invisible in the Media | Alternet

30.10.16

American Indians Killed by Cops at Highest Rate in the Nation, but They're Invisible in the Media | Alternet: Given the paltry official statistics on police killings in general, counting how many Natives have been shot to death or died in police custody is no easy matter. Police have been supposed since the early 1990s to supply to the U.S. Department of Justice information about all the people of whatever race they shoot, justified or not. But this is voluntary and only 3 percent of the nation’s 18,000 state and local police agencies have provided this information.

The FBI seeks to remedy this situation with a pilot program starting next year. Meanwhile, The Guardian and The Washington Post have been keeping their own tallies. What they’ve found is that hundreds—hundreds—of police shootings go unreported each year and that the information that is supplied to federal authorities is often as riddled with as many errors as the people slain are with bullets.