Guardian US is continuing in 2016 to record every death caused by law enforcement officers – something that no government agency has done, even as unrest has rocked several American cities following controversial fatal encounters with police.
This award-winning investigation, titled The Counted, last year prompted the FBI to promise to overhaul its discredited voluntary reporting system. Separately, it led the Department of Justice to launch a new program for counting police-involved deaths, mirroring the Guardian US project and drawing directly on its findings.
Among The Counted’s many striking findings were that young black men are being killed by police at nine times the rate of other Americans, and that African Americans killed by police were twice as likely as white people to have been unarmed.
The Counted is based around an interactive database updated daily. It contains the only comprehensive record of all people killed by police officers – whether by shooting, a fatal chokehold such as that used on Eric Garner in New York City in 2014, or the broken neck sustained by Freddie Gray during a so-called “rough ride” in a Baltimore police van in 2015.
Now, we want to hear from you
What questions do you have for our reporters about the project? At 1pm ET on Tuesday 12 April, Guardian US reporters Jon Swaine and Jamiles Lartey will be talking about the project live – you can tune in at facebook.com/TheCounted.
Before then, you can submit your questions about the use of force by US police and related issues, either via Twitter using the hashtag #AskTheCounted, by emailing us directly at thecounted@theguardian.com or commenting below. Then, visit The Counted’s Facebook page on Tuesday at 1pm ET, where we’ll be answering those questions, live.
