FBI says 51 police murdered in line of duty in 2014

WASHINGTON, United States—Of the 96 US police officers killed in the line of duty last year, 51 were murdered in felonious acts, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday.

The number of officers killed due to felonious acts, as opposed to accidentally killed, was up significantly compared to the previous year—with just 27 police murdered in 2013.

But it was still lower than the 56 officers killed in 2010 and the 55 killed in 2005.

The FBI released the statistics amid a debate over the number of people killed by law enforcement in the United States—and the failure of the authorities to publish related data.

The bureau’s Uniform Crime Reporting program collects data from more than 18,000 local and federal law enforcement agencies to provide related data in the United States.

It includes information about so-called “justifiable homicide,” willful killings by law enforcement seen as justifiable or excusable because an officer killed a criminal in the line of duty or a private citizen killed a criminal while that person was committing a felony.

Last year, there were 444 justifiable homicides by law enforcement and 277 by private citizens, according to FBI data.

But US law enforcement does not publish the total number of people killed by officers, including those killed by accident or illegally.

Reporting is voluntary and not all police departments participate, meaning that many killings likely go unreported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also publish related data through their National Violent Death Reporting System.

In order to fill in this gap, The Washington Post and the US edition of Britain’s Guardian newspaper are keeping their own count.

So far this year, The Guardian’s interactive “The Counted” project found that 922 people have been killed by police in the US, including 809 by firearm. Among those, 62 were black and unarmed.

The Washington Post found that 788 people have been shot dead by police so far this year, including 28 who were black and unarmed.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said comprehensive data on the use of deadly force by police, compiled on a national level, was “vital.”

Such data, she said, would help “promote accountability and transparency.”