Police in the US Kill Citizens at Over 70 Times the Rate of Other First-World Nations

[Firn]

The Washington Post had an opinion which gathered a surprising amount of positive responses.

Of course, officers’ safety is vital, and they’re entitled to defend themselves and the communities they serve. But they’re failing to see the connection between their aggressive postures and the hostility they’ve encountered in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and other communities. When you level assault rifles at protesters, you create animosity. When you kill an unarmed man on his own property while his hands are raised — as Fairfax County police did in 2013 — you sow distrust. And when you threaten to Taser a woman during a routine traffic stop (as happened to 28-year-old Sandra Bland, who died in a Texas jail this month), you cultivate a fear of police. This makes policing more dangerous for everyone.

It is important to keep the statistical context in mind. The Guardian initiated a fine project, aptly named "The Counted", as shockingly there is no official statistic keeping track of how those persons.