Number of people killed by police hits 664 in U.S. this year

  

The number of police-related fatalities in the U.S reached 664 in 2015, making the country’s police force one of the deadliest in the developed world, according to data from The Guardian, a British newspaper.

In the first five months of this year, 19 unarmed black men were shot and killed by the police in the U.S. The Guardian compares that with Germany, where 15 citizens of any race were fatally shot in the two years from 2010 to 2011.

California led the nation in the number of victims. So far this year, 107 people died in police-involved incidents in the state, significantly more than Texas, which came in second with 67 deaths. Florida was the third most deadly with 46. Per capita, Oklahoma tops the list with 29 deaths.

People killed by the police in the U.S. in 2015

By race, whites accounted for roughly half at 321 deaths and blacks followed with 174. However, blacks were twice more likely than whites to be unarmed when killed by the police, The Guardian said.

Of the 102 unarmed Americans killed between January and May, 15% were white, compared with 31.9% for blacks and 25.4% for Hispanics and Latinos.

A vast majority of the deaths involved guns. Twenty-three involved a vehicle, and 27 people died in police custody.

The statistics were compiled from police reports, news outlets, research groups and open-source reporting projects such as Fatal Encounters and Killed by Police as part of the newspaper’s The Counted project.

“The database will combine Guardian reporting with verified crowdsourced information to build a more comprehensive record of such fatalities,” the newspaper said.