Validating open-source data on fatal police shootings against self-reports from a national sample of police agencies.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Because of limitations to government data on police-related violence, researchers commonly use open-source data as the best approximation for studying the prevalence, causes, and prevention of police killings and other police-related violence in the United States. However, the comprehensiveness and accuracy of these open sources are not well known.

Methods

We compared fatal police shootings in three commonly used open sources to self-reports from a national sample of 573 U.S. police agencies from 2015 to 2019. Using ANOVA and regression methods, we assessed patterns of agreement and discrepancy by open source, year, and agency characteristics. We also examined media reports to assess factors contributing to overcounts in open sources.

Results

Annual open-sou

SUBMITTER: Koper CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12538985 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature