FBI to collect data on every police shooting: Comey

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will begin collecting more information about police shootings of civilians and providing it to the American public.

FBI director James Comey said Monday that every police department in the US must submit data on officer involved shootings to give the public a more complete picture.

"Once we receive this data, we will add a special publication that focuses on law enforcement’s use of force in shooting incidents," Comey wrote in a message included in the FBI's annual report "Crime in the United States."

"We hope this information ... will help to dispel misperceptions, foster accountability and promote transparency in how law enforcement personnel relate to the communities they serve," he wrote.

Federal law enforcement officials have acknowledged the lack of reliable data about how often police officers use deadly force while on duty.

The FBI tracks the number of homicides by police that are reported by law enforcement agencies. But those records are incomplete because it is voluntary for police departments to report such data.

A little more than a third of local law enforcement agencies feed information about police shootings into the FBI’s data system, Comey said.

“It’s ridiculous that I can’t tell you how many people were shot by the police in this country,” Comey said during a February appearance at Georgetown University.

Comey announced the plan Monday amid an ongoing concern in the United States about police brutality following a series of incidents in which police shot and killed unarmed civilians.

The fatal shooting of several unarmed black men by white police officers in the past year and decisions by grand juries not to indict the officers have triggered large-scale protests across the US.

Nearly 900 people have been killed by police since the beginning of 2015, according to data collected by an activist group known as Killed by Police.

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