Which data sources are commonly used as major sources for police lethal force data?

• A. Only police department annual reports
• B. The Washington Post database, Mapping Police Violence, NVDRS
• C. Local news blogs
• D. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports

Answer: (B)

Data on police lethal force is most credible when it comes from sources that are built to capture these incidents across many jurisdictions with standardized definitions and detailed incident information. TheWashington Post database, Mapping Police Violence, and NVDRS fit that role. The Washington Post and Mapping Police Violence are long-running efforts that systematically collect, verify, and publish police-use-of-lethal-force incidents from multiple sources, providing consistent definitions and rich incident context. NVDRS, a public health system, links death records with law enforcement and medical data to create standardized profiles of violent deaths, including those involving police, enabling cross-state comparisons and deeper demographic analysis.

In contrast, local news blogs lack systematic coverage and uniform data fields, making comprehensive, comparable data difficult. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports do not specifically track police use of lethal force in a uniform national dataset, focusing instead on broader crime statistics.