Fact check: What are the most recent statistics on police shootings by race in the US?

1. Numbers Are Rising — 2024 Was Especially Deadly, According to Advocacy Data

Campaign Zero’s 2024 tally reports at least 1,365 people were killed by police in 2024, which their analysis describes as the deadliest year on record in their dataset; this figure forms the core recent count cited by advocates tracking police violence ^[1]. The 2024 total is used to argue a worsening trend in fatal police interactions and to underline concerns about data completeness and consistency across official government sources. Campaign Zero’s methodology compiles media, public records, and independent reporting; their report highlights both the raw increase in deaths and demographic breakdowns indicating disproportionate impacts on several racial and ethnic groups ^[1].

2. Racial Disparities: Who Is Disproportionately Affected and by How Much

Analyses point to consistent racial disparities by group: Campaign Zero’s 2024 analysis cites Black people being 2.9 times more likely than White people to be killed by police, Latinos about 1.3 times more likely, Native Americans 3.2 times more likely (from a 2024 study), and Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islanders showing the highest disparity at 7.6 times in the 2024 dataset ^{[2] [1]}. These ratios are relative risk comparisons that depend heavily on population baselines and the dataset’s completeness; advocacy datasets often capture incidents missed by official tallies, but they also reflect methodological choices about classification and inclusion that shape apparent disparities ^{[2] [1]}.

3. Social Vulnerability and Place Matter — Context Beyond Race

A 2025 peer‑reviewed study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine identifies social vulnerability, place, and race as significant predictors of fatal police shootings and quantifies large increases tied to higher social vulnerability indices; the study reports an 8.3-fold increase in fatal shootings moving from low to high social vulnerability, with pronounced increases for Black and Hispanic populations ^[3]. This research shifts some focus from individual racial identity to structural conditions — such as poverty, housing instability, and community resources — that concentrate risk. The study suggests that racial disparities are intertwined with geographic and socioeconomic factors, complicating single‑factor explanations and policy responses ^[3].

4. Methodologies Differ — Why Different Sources Give Different Pictures

The advocacy sources (Campaign Zero) and academic research use different methods: advocacy tallies compile media and public records to capture incidents that official systems miss, while peer‑reviewed work often links incident data to census and social vulnerability metrics for multivariable analysis. These methodological choices produce different emphases — absolute counts versus contextualized risk ratios — and explain variation in reported disparities and interpretations of trends ^{[1] [3]}. Users must note that data completeness, racial classification rules, and denominators (population estimates vs. exposure measures) significantly affect headline numbers and comparative ratios ^{[2] [3]}.

5. What the Provided Secondary Analyses Do and Don’t Say

Several provided analyses in the packet do not offer updated national statistics on police shootings by race and instead focus on traffic stops, Montreal policing, or news curation; these sources do not contradict the U.S. findings but are not direct evidence for national shooting statistics ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}. The absence of U.S. shooting data in those items highlights a common problem: data on police use of lethal force is fragmented across jurisdictions and topics, and relying on a single local study or newsroom curation risks missing broader national patterns documented by dedicated trackers and peer‑reviewed analyses ^[6].

6. Competing Narratives and Possible Agendas to Watch

Advocacy organizations like Campaign Zero pursue policy change and focus on comprehensive incident counts and disparities; their framing emphasizes systemic patterns and urgent reform needs, which can shape presentation choices such as inclusion criteria and racial categorization ^{[1] [2]}. Peer‑reviewed academic studies emphasize causal factors like social vulnerability and place, aiming for analytical nuance but sometimes downplaying advocacy framing. Both approaches are factual but reflect different institutional incentives: advocacy prioritizes comprehensive incident capture and policy leverage, while academia prioritizes multivariate analysis and publication standards ^{[2] [3]}.

7. Bottom Line and What’s Missing for a Definitive Picture

Recent sources show rising fatal police shootings through 2024 and persistent, sometimes large racial disparities across multiple groups, with contextual drivers like social vulnerability amplifying risks ^{[1] [3] [2]}. However, definitive national accounting remains hampered by inconsistent official reporting, differing methodologies, and gaps in disaggregated data for smaller racial groups. Policymakers and researchers need standardized federal reporting, improved racial/ethnic classification, and integration of social‑vulnerability measures to more precisely monitor trends and design targeted interventions ^{[1] [3]}.