Juli’s Research Process

We still have no functional governmental data base on police violence. Reporting of officer-involved homicides is not mandatory.  For this year’s calendar I have used two web-based data banks. The Washington Post Fatal Force website registers officer-involved shooting homicides, but not homicides caused by strangulation, asphyxiation or death by police vehicles. Nor does Fatal Force register killings by off-duty officers. The other site, mappingpoliceviolence.org/, is very comprehensive in that it includes killings by off-duty officers and fatal car accidents that occur in police chases. In the calendar, I do not include fatalities that occurred when a fleeing driver made a driving error and crashed UNLESS the crash was caused by what police call a PIT maneuver. The innocuous sounding acronym stands for “pursuit intervention technique” and means that the pursuing car purposely and strategically bumps the fleeing car in a way designed to make it spin out. A synonym is TVI, tactical vehicle intervention.  There are many people on this calendar who were killed via such maneuvers. Look at the code string following their names on the calendar for the letter V, which means police killed someone with their vehicle.  The V code also covers pedestrians who were run over by careless police, a surprisingly frequent event.

Even with two reliable websites, longer research processes are required. Websites rely on early reported data, dominated by police narratives. Accounts often change once an investigation is done, bystander or security camera video emerges, or witnesses come forward. Initial homicide accounts may not have victims’ names, may lack race data, and rarely include the victim’s mental health history. These gaps necessitate the task of media research to get clarity on the facts of each case. Causes of death in cases not effected by shooting may be revealed by autopsy weeks later. I find many errors, rarely in favor of the victim, just repetitions of the same tired police narratives. Deaths in custody are even less well documented than those in the community. I rely on sources like Push Black, The Root, The Griot and Color of Change to learn about these cases. Most helpful to my research process are all of the local Black Lives Matter chapters, similar organizations and bereaved families whose demonstrations and statements prompt news coverage that enables my efforts to find follow-up information. Thank you #BLM everywhere.

In the rare cases where police are charged, justice comes extremely slowly or not at all.  Please see our website (blacklivesmattercalendar.com) for the story of Ronald Greene whose murder was concealed with lies for 2 years, followed by indictments and then ultimately a perversion of justice.  Greene’s family’s fight for justice has dragged on from May, 2019 to the present.

Again this year I saw many incidents that appear to have been “suicide-by-cop.” It is a national shame that this is such a reliable way to commit suicide. Around 120 of the individuals whose deaths are marked here had acknowledged mental health problems. MI for mental illness is included in the codes for the manner of their deaths. Many sought treatment on the day of or the day before their deaths. I note an increase in incidents in which people accessing mental health care are turned away, or kept for only a brief time before being released still in crisis, and then killed by police. We need better mental health treatment funding and more crisis mental health workers available at all times as well as better systems for accessing their expertise. These professionals also risk their lives and should be paid as well as police. So often distressed individuals in crisis are killed in front of their families who are pleading with police for crisis intervention not execution. Finally, know that mandatory minimums and “three strikes you’re out” endanger law enforcers. I read many cases where someone determined not to go, or go back, to prison initiates a gun battle.