There have only been 9 days this year when the police have not killed somebody.
Some news outlets put the number as high as 500 dead in the past six months, according to both The Guardian and Killed by the Police.Net. The Washington Post’s own investigation showed nearly 400 dead as of the end of May.
We know these numbers because activists have searched tirelessly to find instances where the media has reported that someone was killed by police. Yes, newspaper articles are currently the most consistent source of information on nationwide police killings because police departments are not required to collect or report this information.
We live in the age of big data and analytics, yet we have no systematic way of collecting even the most elemental data on the actions of police officers. It is as if the lives of those that are killed by the police simply do not matter. In fact, it appears as if these lives are not even worth cataloguing.