Fact check: Which states have the highest rates of police killings per capita in 2025?

1. Summary of the results

The analyses reveal that no current data exists for 2025 state-by-state police killing rates per capita. However, the available sources provide important historical context and trends:

• New Mexico and Corpus Christi, Texas had the highest per capita rates of police killings based on recent data, with the southwest United States identified as a hot spot for police violence ^[1]
• Police killed more than 1,300 people in the U.S. in 2024, continuing a decade-long trend of consistent rates ^{[1] [2]}
• Documented police killings have remained virtually unchanged over the past decade, despite national attention following Ferguson ^[2]
• The data shows significant racial disparities, with Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people having the highest rate at 88 per 1 million people from 2013-2022 ^[3]

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question assumes 2025 data availability, but several critical pieces of context are missing:

• Data collection limitations: Police killing statistics are often incomplete or delayed, making real-time 2025 data unlikely to be comprehensive ^[3]
• Geographic vs. demographic focus: While the question asks about states, the most significant disparities appear to be racial rather than purely geographic, with Black people, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders killed at disproportionately higher rates ^{[3] [2]}
• Bidirectional violence trends: Texas experienced eight officers shot in seven ambush-style attacks in 2025, representing a different aspect of police-civilian violence that complicates the narrative ^[4]
• Crime reduction context: Overall crime rates, including homicides, decreased in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024, which may influence police encounter dynamics ^{[5] [6]}

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The question contains an implicit assumption that may be misleading:

• Temporal bias: The question presupposes that comprehensive 2025 data exists when sources indicate this information is not yet available
• Geographic framing: By focusing solely on state-level data, the question potentially obscures the more significant racial disparities that appear to be the primary driver of police killing rates ^{[3] [2]}
• Missing systemic context: The question treats police killings as isolated statistics rather than part of broader patterns that have remained consistent for a decade despite reform efforts ^[2]

Organizations that track police violence, such as Mapping Police Violence, would benefit from increased attention to their data collection efforts, while law enforcement agencies and reform advocates each have different interests in how this data is presented and interpreted.