A study by researchers at the University of Washington found that killings at the hands of police officers have been underreported or misclassified over forty years, and that the actual number may be nearly double the reported amount, the New York Times reports.
The data, from 1980 to 2018, shows that as many as 31,000 people were killed by police over that 40 year period, but only 17,000 were actually reported as such. Researchers compared data from the National Vital Statistics System to information collected by independent groups that tracked police killings and found less than half of the deaths were classified as such on official records.
The study throws into question the relationships between police and the people who certify information on death certificates, the local coroners. It also will lead to renewed calls for authorities to investigate police violence, particularly against Black communities.