Sadly, the trend of fatal police shootings in the United States seems to only be increasing, with a total 1,173 civilians having been shot, 248 of whom were Black, as of December 2024. In 2023, there were 1,164 fatal police shootings. Additionally, the rate of fatal police shootings among Black Americans was much higher than that for any other ethnicity, standing at 6.1 fatal shootings per million of the population per year between 2015 and 2024. Police brutality in the U.S. In recent years, particularly since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, police brutality has become a hot button issue in the United States. The number of homicides committed by police in the United States is often compared to those in countries such as England, where the number is significantly lower. Black Lives Matter The Black Lives Matter Movement, formed in 2013, has been a vocal part of the movement against police brutality in the U.S. by organizing “die-ins”, marches, and demonstrations in response to the killings of black men and women by police. While Black Lives Matter has become a controversial movement within the U.S., it has brought more attention to the number and frequency of police shootings of civilians.

The rate of fatal police shootings in the United States shows large differences based on ethnicity. Among Black Americans, the rate of fatal police shootings between 2015 and December 2024 stood at 6.1 per million of the population per year, while for white Americans, the rate stood at 2.4 fatal police shootings per million of the population per year. Police brutality in the United States Police brutality is a major issue in the United States, but recently saw a spike in online awareness and protests following the murder of George Floyd, an African American who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer. Just a few months before, Breonna Taylor was fatally shot in her apartment when Louisville police officers forced entry into her apartment. Despite the repeated fatal police shootings across the country, police accountability has not been adequate according to many Americans. A majority of Black Americans thought that police officers were not held accountable for their misconduct, while less than half of White Americans thought the same. Political opinions Not only are there differences in opinion between ethnicities on police brutality, but there are also major differences between political parties. A majority of Democrats in the United States thought that police officers were not held accountable for their misconduct, while a majority of Republicans that they were held accountable. Despite opposing views on police accountability, both Democrats and Republicans agree that police should be required to be trained in nonviolent alternatives to deadly force.

The killing of Tyre Nichols in January 2023 by Memphis Police Officers has reignited debates about police brutality in the United States. Between 2013 and 2024, over 1,000 people have been killed by police every year. Some of the most infamous examples include the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the shooting of Breonna Taylor earlier that year. Within the provided time period, the most people killed by police in the United States was in 2024, at 1,375 people. Police Violence in the U.S. Police violence is defined as any instance where a police officer’s use of force results in a civilian’s death, regardless of whether it is considered justified by the law. While many people killed by police in the U.S. were shot, other causes of death have included tasers, vehicles, and physical restraints or beatings. In the United States, the rate of police shootings is much higher for Black Americans than it is for any other ethnicity, and recent incidents of police killing unarmed Black men and women in the United States have led to widespread protests against police brutality, particularly towards communities of color. America’s Persistent Police Problem Despite increasing visibility surrounding police violence in recent years, police killings have continued to occur in the United States at a consistently high rate. In comparison to other countries, police in the U.S. have killed people at a rate three times higher than police in Canada and 60 times the rate of police in England. While U.S. police have killed people in almost all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, New Mexico was reported to have the highest rate of people killed by the police in the United States, with 8.03 people per million inhabitants killed by police.

As of November 17, New Mexico had the highest rate of people killed by police out of all U.S. states in 2024, with ***** people per million inhabitants killed by police in that time period, followed by Wyoming with ***** people per million inhabitants killed by police.

The rate of civilians killed by police in the Venezuela is far higher than in comparable developed democratic countries, with 1,830 people killed by police per 10 million residents in 2025. This compares to 69 deaths per 10 million residents in Canada, and seven in Australia - perhaps the two most comparable countries to the United States in many respects. Country with the most prisoners The El Salvador is the country with the largest number of prisoners per capita. This suggests either that they have the most criminals, or that the police make more arrests and judges hand down jail as a more frequent punishment. Costa Rica has the highest burglary rate, seeing almost three times as many break-ins as in the United States, for example. Does weapon ownership contribute to higher number of violent attacks? Other factors may also be at play. One such factor may be gun ownership. If police shootings are more likely to happen in states with a higher number of registered weapons, one could argue that the threat of violence against police makes officers more likely to utilize deadly force. However, countries like Canada also have a high number of individual firearms licenses, indicating that this factor likely does not explain the entire effect. Social factors may also influence this statistic, such as the use of the death penalty. Still, each fatal incident is complex, and the full situation surrounding each involves many factors, meaning that a simple solution is unlikely.

As of November 17, 277 Black people were killed by the police in the United States in 2024. This compares to 201 Hispanic people and 445 white people. The rate of police shootings of Black Americans is much higher than any other ethnicity, at 6.2 per million people. This rate stands at 2.8 per million for Hispanic people and 2.4 per million for white people.

This dataset, compiled by The Washington Post, logs every person shot and killed by an on-duty police officer in the United States from 2015 to 2024. Following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, it was discovered that FBI reports were significantly undercounted, with only a third of fatal shootings recorded by 2021. This comprehensive database aims to fill that gap and provide detailed information on each incident, including the police departments involved, to enhance accountability.

The study was a comprehensive analysis of felonious killings of officers. The purposes of the study were (1) to analyze the nature and circumstances of incidents of felonious police killings and (2) to analyze trends in the numbers and rates of killings across different types of agencies and to explain these differences. For Part 1, Incident-Level Data, an incident-level database was created to capture all incidents involving the death of a police officer from 1983 through 1992. Data on officers and incidents were collected from the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) data collection as coded by the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. In addition to the UCR data, the Police Foundation also coded information from the LEOKA narratives that are not part of the computerized LEOKA database from the FBI. For Part 2, Agency-Level Data, the researchers created an agency-level database to research systematic differences among rates at which law enforcement officers had been feloniously killed from 1977 through 1992. The investigators focused on the 56 largest law enforcement agencies because of the availability of data for explanatory variables. Variables in Part 1 include year of killing, involvement of other officers, if the officer was killed with his/her own weapon, circumstances of the killing, location of fatal wounds, distance between officer and offender, if the victim was wearing body armor, if different officers were killed in the same incident, if the officer was in uniform, actions of the killer and of the officer at entry and final stage, if the killer was visible at first, if the officer thought the killer was a felon suspect, if the officer was shot at entry, and circumstances at anticipation, entry, and final stages. Demographic variables for Part 1 include victim's sex, age, race, type of assignment, rank, years of experience, agency, population group, and if the officer was working a security job. Part 2 contains variables describing the general municipal environment, such as whether the agency is located in the South, level of poverty according to a poverty index, population density, percent of population that was Hispanic or Black, and population aged 15-34 years old. Variables capturing the crime environment include the violent crime rate, property crime rate, and a gun-related crime index. Lastly, variables on the environment of the police agencies include violent and property crime arrests per 1,000 sworn officers, percentage of officers injured in assaults, and number of sworn officers.

In the United States, more men than women are shot to death by the police. As of October 22, the U.S. police shot 904 men and 44 women to death in 2024. In 2023, the police shot 1,107 men and 48 women to death.

The Washington Post is compiling a database of every fatal shooting in the United States by a police officer in the line of duty since Jan. 1, 2015.

In 2015, The Post began tracking more than a dozen details about each killing — including the race of the deceased, the circumstances of the shooting, whether the person was armed and whether the person was experiencing a mental-health crisis — by culling local news reports, law enforcement websites and social media, and by monitoring independent databases such as Killed by Police and Fatal Encounters. The Post conducted additional reporting in many cases.

In 2016, The Post is gathering additional information about each fatal shooting by police that occurs this year and is filing open-records requests with departments. More than a dozen additional details are being collected about officers in each shooting. Officers’ names are being included in the database after The Post contacts the departments to request comment.

The Post is documenting only those shootings in which a police officer, in the line of duty, shoots and kills a civilian — the circumstances that most closely parallel the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., which began the protest movement culminating in Black Lives Matter and an increased focus on police accountability nationwide. The Post is not tracking deaths of people in police custody, fatal shootings by off-duty officers or non-shooting deaths. The FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention log fatal shootings by police, but officials acknowledge that their data is incomplete. In 2015, The Post documented more than twice as many fatal shootings by police as had been recorded by the FBI. Last year, the FBI announced plans to overhaul how it tracks fatal police encounters.

The Post's database is updated regularly as fatal shootings are reported and as facts emerge about individual cases. The Post is seeking assistance in making the database as comprehensive as possible. To provide information about fatal police shootings since Jan. 1, 2015, send us an email at policeshootingsfeedback@washpost.com. The Post is also interested in obtaining photos of the deceased and original videos of fatal encounters with police.

Data Dictionary

...

Key	List of...	Comment	Example Value
Person.Name	String	Full name of the individual or "Unknown" if not reported	"Tim Elliot"
Person.Age	Integer	Age in years of the individual or 0 (zero) if not reported	53
Person.Gender	String	One of Male, Female, or Unknown	"Male"
Person.Race	String	One of Asian, African American, White, Hispanic, Native American, Other, or Unknown.	"Asian"
Incident.Date.Month	Integer	Month (1-12) in which the shooting occurred	1
Incident.Date.Day	Integer	Day (1-31) in which the shooting occurred	2
Incident.Date.Year	Integer	Year (2015-2019) in which the shooting occurred	2015
Incident.Date.Full	String	Date in which shooting occurred (Year/Month/Day)	"2015/01/02"
Incident.Location.City	String	Name of city in which the shooting occurred	"Shelton"
Incident.Location.State	String	Name of U.S. State in which the shooting occurred	"WA"
Factors.Armed	String	Description of any weapon carried by the person (.e., "gun", "knife", "unarmed"); value is "unknown" if not reported.	"gun"
Factors.Mental-Illness	Boolean	True if factors of mental illness were perceived in the person; False otherwise	True
Factors.Threat-Level	String	Threat of person as perceived by police. One of "attack", "undetermined", or "other"; value is "unknown" if not reported.	"attack"
Factors.Fleeing	String	Means by which person was fleeing (e.g., "Car", "Foot") or "Not fleeing"; value is "unknown" if not reported.	"Not fleeing"
Shooting.Manner

As of October 22, police in the United States had shot 23 unarmed people to death in 2024. The most common weapon for a victim of a fatal police shooting to be carrying is a gun. In 2023, 717 people carrying a gun were shot and killed by the U.S. police.

For any questions about this data please email me at jacob@crimedatatool.com. If you use this data, please cite it.Version 7 release notes:Add data from 2018Version 6 release notes:Adds data in the following formats: SPSS and Excel.Changes project name to avoid confusing this data for the ones done by NACJD.Version 5 release notes: Adds data for 1960-1974 and 2017. Note: many columns (including number of female officers) will always have a value of 0 for years prior to 1971.Removes support for .csv and .sav files.Adds a number_of_months_reported variable for each agency-year. A month is considered reported if the month_indicator column for that month has a value of "normal update" or "reported, not data."The formatting of the monthly data has changed from wide to long. This means that each agency-month has a single row. The old data had each agency being a single row with each month-category (e.g. jan_officers_killed_by_felony) being a column. Now there will just be a single column for each category (e.g. officers_killed_by_felony) and the month can be identified in the month column. This also results in most column names changing. As such, be careful when aggregating the monthly data since some variables are the same every month (e.g. number of officers employed is measured annually) so aggregating will be 12 times as high as the real value for those variables. Adds a date column. This date column is always set to the first of the month. It is NOT the date that a crime occurred or was reported. It is only there to make it easier to create time-series graphs that require a date input.All the data in this version was acquired from the FBI as text/DAT files and read into R using the package asciiSetupReader. The FBI also provided a PDF file explaining how to create the setup file to read the data. Both the FBI's PDF and the setup file I made are included in the zip files. Data is the same as from NACJD but using all FBI files makes cleaning easier as all column names are already identical. Version 4 release notes: Add data for 2016.Order rows by year (descending) and ORI.Version 3 release notes: Fix bug where Philadelphia Police Department had incorrect FIPS county code. The LEOKA data sets contain highly detailed data about the number of officers/civilians employed by an agency and how many officers were killed or assaulted. All the data was acquired from the FBI as text/DAT files and read into R using the package asciiSetupReader. The FBI also provided a PDF file explaining how to create the setup file to read the data. Both the FBI's PDF and the setup file I made are included in the zip files. About 7% of all agencies in the data report more officers or civilians than population. As such, I removed the officers/civilians per 1,000 population variables. You should exercise caution if deciding to generate and use these variables yourself. Several agency had impossible large (>15) officer deaths in a single month. For those months I changed the value to NA. See the R code for a complete list. For the R code used to clean this data, see here. https://github.com/jacobkap/crime_data.The UCR Handbook (https://ucr.fbi.gov/additional-ucr-publications/ucr_handbook.pdf/view) describes the LEOKA data as follows:"The UCR Program collects data from all contributing agencies ... on officer line-of-duty deaths and assaults. Reporting agencies must submit data on ... their own duly sworn officers feloniously or accidentally killed or assaulted in the line of duty. The purpose of this data collection is to identify situations in which officers are killed or assaulted, describe the incidents statistically, and publish the data to aid agencies in developing policies to improve officer safety."... agencies must record assaults on sworn officers. Reporting agencies must count all assaults that resulted in serious injury or assaults in which a weapon was used that could have caused serious injury or death. They must include other assaults not causing injury if the assault involved more than mere verbal abuse or minor resistance to an arrest. In other words, agencies must include in this section all assaults on officers, whether or not the officers sustained injuries."

For a comprehensive guide to this data and other UCR data, please see my book at ucrbook.comVersion 12 release notes:Adds 2021 data.Version 11 release notes:Adds 2020 data. Please note that the FBI has retired UCR data ending in 2020 data so this will (probably, I haven't seen confirmation either way) be the last LEOKA data they release. Changes .rda file to .rds.Version 10 release notes:Changes release notes description, does not change data.Version 9 release notes:Adds data for 2019.Version 8 release notes:Fix bug for years 1960-1971 where the number of months reported variable was incorrectly down by 1 month. I recommend caution when using these years as they only report either 0 or 12 months of the year, which differs from every other year in the data. Added the variable officers_killed_total which is the sum of officers_killed_by_felony and officers_killed_by_accident.Version 7 release notes:Adds data from 2018Version 6 release notes:Adds data in the following formats: SPSS and Excel.Changes project name to avoid confusing this data for the ones done by NACJD.Version 5 release notes: Adds data for 1960-1974 and 2017. Note: many columns (including number of female officers) will always have a value of 0 for years prior to 1971. This is because those variables weren't collected prior to 1971. These should be NA, not 0 but I'm keeping it as 0 to be consistent with the raw data. Removes support for .csv and .sav files.Adds a number_of_months_reported variable for each agency-year. A month is considered reported if the month_indicator column for that month has a value of "normal update" or "reported, not data."The formatting of the monthly data has changed from wide to long. This means that each agency-month has a single row. The old data had each agency being a single row with each month-category (e.g. jan_officers_killed_by_felony) being a column. Now there will just be a single column for each category (e.g. officers_killed_by_felony) and the month can be identified in the month column. This also results in most column names changing. As such, be careful when aggregating the monthly data since some variables are the same every month (e.g. number of officers employed is measured annually) so aggregating will be 12 times as high as the real value for those variables. Adds a date column. This date column is always set to the first of the month. It is NOT the date that a crime occurred or was reported. It is only there to make it easier to create time-series graphs that require a date input.All the data in this version was acquired from the FBI as text/DAT files and read into R using the package asciiSetupReader. The FBI also provided a PDF file explaining how to create the setup file to read the data. Both the FBI's PDF and the setup file I made are included in the zip files. Data is the same as from NACJD but using all FBI files makes cleaning easier as all column names are already identical. Version 4 release notes: Add data for 2016.Order rows by year (descending) and ORI.Version 3 release notes: Fix bug where Philadelphia Police Department had incorrect FIPS county code. The LEOKA data sets contain highly detailed data about the number of officers/civilians employed by an agency and how many officers were killed or assaulted. All the data was acquired from the FBI as text/DAT files and read into R using the package asciiSetupReader. The FBI also provided a PDF file explaining how to create the setup file to read the data. Both the FBI's PDF and the setup file I made are included in the zip files. About 7% of all agencies in the data report more officers or civilians than population. As such, I removed the officers/civilians per 1,000 population variables. You should exercise caution if deciding to generate and use these variables yourself. Several agency had impossible large (>15) officer deaths in a single month. For those months I changed the value to NA. The UCR Handbook (https://ucr.fbi.gov/additional-ucr-publications/ucr_handbook.pdf/view) describes the LEOKA data as follows:"The UCR Program collects data from all contributing agencies ... on officer line-of-duty deaths and assaults. Reporting agencies must submit data on ... their own duly sworn officers feloniously or accidentally killed or assaulted in the line of duty. The purpose of this data collection is to identify situations in which

As of November 25, 251 people aged 45 years and over were fatally shot by U.S. law enforcement officers in 2024. 310 people in the same age group were shot to death by police in 2023, and 263 in 2022.

EMSIndicators:The number of individual patients administered naloxone by EMSThe number of naloxone administrations by EMSThe rate of EMS calls involving naloxone administrations per 10,000 residentsData Source:The Vermont Statewide Incident Reporting Network (SIREN) is a comprehensive electronic prehospital patient care data collection, analysis, and reporting system. EMS reporting serves several important functions, including legal documentation, quality improvement initiatives, billing, and evaluation of individual and agency performance measures.Law Enforcement Indicators:The Number of law enforcement responses to accidental opioid-related non-fatal overdosesData Source:The Drug Monitoring Initiative (DMI) was established by the Vermont Intelligence Center (VIC) in an effort to combat the opioid epidemic in Vermont. It serves as a repository of drug data for Vermont and manages overdose and seizure databases. Notes:Overdose data provided in this dashboard are derived from multiple sources and should be considered preliminary and therefore subject to change. Overdoses included are those that Vermont law enforcement responded to. Law enforcement personnel do not respond to every overdose, and therefore, the numbers in this report are not representative of all overdoses in the state. The overdoses included are limited to those that are suspected to have been caused, at least in part, by opioids. Inclusion is based on law enforcement's perception and representation in Records Management Systems (RMS). All Vermont law enforcement agencies are represented, with the exception of Norwich Police Department, Hartford Police Department, and Windsor Police Department, due to RMS access. Questions regarding this dataset can be directed to the Vermont Intelligence Center at dps.vicdrugs@vermont.gov.Overdoses Indicators:The number of accidental and undetermined opioid-related deathsThe number of accidental and undetermined opioid-related deaths with cocaine involvementThe percent of accidental and undetermined opioid-related deaths with cocaine involvementThe rate of accidental and undetermined opioid-related deathsThe rate of heroin nonfatal overdose per 10,000 ED visitsThe rate of opioid nonfatal overdose per 10,000 ED visitsThe rate of stimulant nonfatal overdose per 10,000 ED visitsData Source:Vermont requires towns to report all births, marriages, and deaths. These records, particularly birth and death records are used to study and monitor the health of a population. Deaths are reported via the Electronic Death Registration System. Vermont publishes annual Vital Statistics reports.The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) captures and analyzes recent Emergency Department visit data for trends and signals of abnormal activity that may indicate the occurrence of significant public health events.Population Health Indicators:The percent of adolescents in grades 6-8 who used marijuana in the past 30 daysThe percent of adolescents in grades 9-12 who used marijuana in the past 30 daysThe percent of adolescents in grades 9-12 who drank any alcohol in the past 30 daysThe percent of adolescents in grades 9-12 who binge drank in the past 30 daysThe percent of adolescents in grades 9-12 who misused any prescription medications in the past 30 daysThe percent of adults who consumed alcohol in the past 30 daysThe percent of adults who binge drank in the past 30 daysThe percent of adults who used marijuana in the past 30 daysData Sources:The Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is part of a national school-based surveillance system conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The YRBS monitors health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and young adults.The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a telephone survey conducted annually among adults 18 and older. The Vermont BRFSS is completed by the Vermont Department of Health in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Notes:Prevalence estimates and trends for the 2021 Vermont YRBS were likely impacted by significant factors unique to 2021, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the delay of the survey administration period resulting in a younger population completing the survey. Students who participated in the 2021 YRBS may have had a different educational and social experience compared to previous participants. Disruptions, including remote learning, lack of social interactions, and extracurricular activities, are likely reflected in the survey results. As a result, no trend data is included in the 2021 report and caution should be used when interpreting and comparing the 2021 results to other years.The Vermont Department of Health (VDH) seeks to promote destigmatizing and equitable language. While the VDH uses the term "cannabis" to reflect updated terminology, the data sources referenced in this data brief use the term "marijuana" to refer to cannabis. Prescription Drugs Indicators:The average daily MMEThe average day's supplyThe average day's supply for opioid analgesic prescriptionsThe number of prescriptionsThe percent of the population receiving at least one prescriptionThe percent of prescriptionsThe proportion of opioid analgesic prescriptionsThe rate of prescriptions per 100 residentsData Source:The Vermont Prescription Monitoring System (VPMS) is an electronic data system that collects information on Schedule II-IV controlled substance prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies. VPMS proactively safeguards public health and safety while supporting the appropriate use of controlled substances. The program helps healthcare providers improve patient care. VPMS data is also a health statistics tool that is used to monitor statewide trends in the dispensing of prescriptions.Treatment Indicators:The number of times a new substance use disorder is diagnosed (Medicaid recipients index events)The number of times substance use disorder treatment is started within 14 days of diagnosis (Medicaid recipients initiation events)The number of times two or more treatment services are provided within 34 days of starting treatment (Medicaid recipients engagement events)The percent of times substance use disorder treatment is started within 14 days of diagnosis (Medicaid recipients initiation rate)The percent of times two or more treatment services are provided within 34 days of starting treatment (Medicaid recipients engagement rate)The MOUD treatment rate per 10,000 peopleThe number of people who received MOUD treatmentData Source:Vermont Medicaid ClaimsThe Vermont Prescription Monitoring System (VPMS)Substance Abuse Treatment Information System (SATIS)

There has been little research on United States homicide rates from a long-term perspective, primarily because there has been no consistent data series on a particular place preceding the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), which began its first full year in 1931. To fill this research gap, this project created a data series on homicides per capita for New York City that spans two centuries. The goal was to create a site-specific, individual-based data series that could be used to examine major social shifts related to homicide, such as mass immigration, urban growth, war, demographic changes, and changes in laws. Data were also gathered on various other sites, particularly in England, to allow for comparisons on important issues, such as the post-World War II wave of violence. The basic approach to the data collection was to obtain the best possible estimate of annual counts and the most complete information on individual homicides. The annual count data (Parts 1 and 3) were derived from multiple sources, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports and Supplementary Homicide Reports, as well as other official counts from the New York City Police Department and the City Inspector in the early 19th century. The data include a combined count of murder and manslaughter because charge bargaining often blurs this legal distinction. The individual-level data (Part 2) were drawn from coroners' indictments held by the New York City Municipal Archives, and from daily newspapers. Duplication was avoided by keeping a record for each victim. The estimation technique known as "capture-recapture" was used to estimate homicides not listed in either source. Part 1 variables include counts of New York City homicides, arrests, and convictions, as well as the homicide rate, race or ethnicity and gender of victims, type of weapon used, and source of data. Part 2 includes the date of the murder, the age, sex, and race of the offender and victim, and whether the case led to an arrest, trial, conviction, execution, or pardon. Part 3 contains annual homicide counts and rates for various comparison sites including Liverpool, London, Kent, Canada, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco.

Number, percentage and rate (per 100,000 population) of homicide victims, by racialized identity group (total, by racialized identity group; racialized identity group; South Asian; Chinese; Black; Filipino; Arab; Latin American; Southeast Asian; West Asian; Korean; Japanese; other racialized identity group; multiple racialized identity; racialized identity, but racialized identity group is unknown; rest of the population; unknown racialized identity group), gender (all genders; male; female; gender unknown) and region (Canada; Atlantic region; Quebec; Ontario; Prairies region; British Columbia; territories), 2019 to 2024.

In 2023/24, the police in England and Wales fatally shot two people, compared with three in the previous reporting year, and six in 2016/17. During the same reporting year, the police used firearms twice, compared with ten times in 2022/23. In general, the police in England and Wales and in the rest of the UK do not have a tradition of carrying firearms, with the country having some of the strictest gun laws in the world. In 2023/24, out of around 147,746 police officers, just 5,861 were licensed to carry firearms in England and Wales. Comparisons with the United States Among developed economies, the United States is something of an outlier when it comes to police shootings. In 2024, it is estimated that the police in the United States fatally shot 1,173 people. There are also significant disparities based on a person's ethnicity. Between 2015 and March 2024, the rate of fatal police shootings among Black Americans was 6.1 per one million people, 2.7 per million people for Hispanic Americans and 2.4 per million people for white Americans. Gun violence overall is also far more prevalent in the United States, with 42 percent of American households owning a firearm as of 2023. Gun homicides rare in England and Wales Of the 583 homicides that took place in England and Wales in 2023/24, just 22 were committed by a person using a firearm. By far the most common method of killing was using a knife or other sharp instrument, at 262 homicides, or around 46 percent of them. Compared with twenty years ago, homicides in England and Wales have declined, falling from 1,047 in 2002/03, to just 533 in 2014/15. After this point, annual homicides rose, and by 2016/17 there were more than 700 homicides recorded in England and Wales. Although there have been some fluctuations, particularly during 2020/21 at the height of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Intimate partner and non-intimate partner victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic offences causing bodily harm or death, by age and gender of victim c (1, 2)Frequency: AnnualTable: 35-10-0202-01Release date: 2023-11-21Geography: Canada, Province or territory, Census metropolitan area, Census metropolitan area partTable Corrections: Date Note On December 10, 2021, the 2019 and 2020 data were revised as a result of corrections made to the populations used to calculate rates per 100 000 population. Footnotes: 1 In general, for police-reported incidents that involve violations against the person, a victim record is collected for each victim involved in the incident. If an individual is a victim in multiple incidents in the same reference year, that individual will be counted as one victim for each incident. Some victims experience violence over a period of time, sometimes years, all of which may be considered by the police to be part of one continuous incident and are counted as a single victim. Victim records are not required for all violent violations, but are accepted, for some violent offences such as uttering threats and criminal harassment. 2 Data are from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Trend Database, which contains historical data that permit the analysis of trends since 2009 in the characteristics of incidents, and accused and victim characteristics, such as age, gender and accused–victim relationship. This database includes respondents accounting for 99% of the population of Canada. 3 A census metropolitan area (CMA) consists of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a major urban core. A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000, of which 50,000 or more live in the urban core. To be included in the CMA, other adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the central urban core, as measured by commuting flows derived from census data. A CMA typically comprises more than one police service. CMA populations have been adjusted to follow policing boundaries. The Oshawa CMA is excluded from this analysis owing to the incongruity between the police service jurisdictional boundaries and the CMA boundaries. Belleville and Lethbridge became CMAs as of the 2016 Census. In 2022, coverage for each CMA was virtually 100%, except in Toronto (90%) and Hamilton (75%). As a result, counts and rates may differ from information from other sources. 4 Victim age is calculated based on the end date of an incident, as reported by the police. Some victims experience violence over a period of time, sometimes years, all of which may be considered by the police to be part of one continuous incident. 5 Excludes the portion of Halton Regional Police Service that polices the Hamilton census metropolitan area. As a result, counts and rates may differ from information from other sources. 6 The category “age of victim unknown” includes victims whose ages were reported as 80 years and older, but were identified as possible instances of miscoding, as well as victims in Quebec whose ages were unknown but were miscoded as 0. 7 Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population in each age and gender group unless otherwise noted for specific relationships. Populations based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada, Centre for Demography. Rates for victims with unknown age or unknown gender are not available for any reference period, as population estimates cannot be applied to calculate rates where these elements are unknown. 9 The option for police to code victims as non-binary in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey was implemented in 2018. Given that small counts of victims identified as “non-binary” may exist, the UCR aggregate data available to the public have been recoded to assign these counts to either “male” or “female,” in order to ensure the protection of confidentiality and privacy. Victims identified as non-binary have been assigned to either male or female based on the regional distribution of victims’ gender. 8 Includes victims aged 15 years and older who were victimized by current and former legally married spouses and common-law partners. Also includes victims aged 12 years and older of current and former boyfriends and girlfriends and other intimate relationships (i.e., those with whom they had a sexual relationship but for which none of the other relationship categories apply). Spousal violence victims under the age of 15 years are included in the relationship category “other family.” Victims of non-spousal intimate partner violence under the age of 12 years are included in the relationship category “unknown relationship.” Rates for total victims are based on populations aged 12 years and older. Rates for other victim age groups are calculated on the basis of their corresponding age group populations.