To: President Donald Trump
Report All Police-Involved Deaths to the FBI
Currently only 4 percent, or 700 out of the nation's 17,000 police departments, report police-involved shootings to the FBI. There is therefore no systematic record of how many Americans are killed by guns or any other means while in police custody. As President Obama begins to address the issue as it has manifested itself in Ferguson, New York City, and across the country, please urge him to require every police department that receives federal aid to report all such incidents to the FBI.
Why is this important?
There may have been too much conflicting evidence to indict Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown, but the refusal of a New York City grand jury to indict Daniel Pantaleo for the video-taped chokehold death of Eric Garner reveals a systematic denial by our legal system of oppressive police policies and practices, especially against people of color. As a white man I have never been stopped by a police officer except for traffic violations of which I was guilty. I am ashamed of the gratuitous harassment and injury inflicted upon law-abiding people of color for my ostensible protection. I believe it's time for the nation to recognize the extent of this problem.