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WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The United States must do a better job of tracking killings by police officers and the killings of police officers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.

In a speech at a Martin Luther King Jr. birthday memorial event, Holder attempted to bridge the divide between protesters angry at police-involved killings, especially those of unarmed black men, and police who say they are risking their lives with insufficient support.

"The troubling reality is that we lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of incidents of either uses of force directed at police officers or uses of force by police," he said. "This strikes many -- including me -- as unacceptable. Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind."

The failure of grand juries to indict the officers believed responsible for the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City set off a wave of protests. On Thursday, which would have been King's 85th birthday, protesters held sit-ins on Interstate 93 north and south of Boston, snarling rush hour traffic.

Police have also protested. In New York, officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio at ceremonies after two officers were shot by a man apparently angry over the killing of Williams and Garner.

The FBI records both police deaths and police-involved killings but depends on voluntary reports from law enforcement agencies. Those have a tendency only to report killings found to be "justifiable."

Congress recently approved a bill that would require all deaths during or after arrests to be reported to the federal government.

Holder said his brother is a retired police officer.

"In short, they are true American heroes -- whose patriotism, integrity, and commitment to the highest standards of excellence are simply beyond question. I know this," he said. "And I have been troubled and deeply disturbed by recent mischaracterizations of this administration's regard for those who wear the badge."

A preliminary report released late last year showed a significant increase in police deaths in the line of duty in 2014 over the previous year. But the report said deaths in both years were low by historical standards and shootings of police officers have declined sharply since their high in the 1970s.

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Holder: U.S. needs better data on killings of and by police

Better data should be collected about use of force by the police and about attacks on police officers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.

In a speech at the Justice Department honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Holder said that there is a need to address officer safety and mistrust of the police because of the use of force.

"The troubling reality is that we lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of incidents of either uses of force directed at police officers or uses of force by police," Holder said. "This strikes many including me as unacceptable. Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind."

The FBI tracks the number of justifiable homicides committed by police, but that does not reflect the total number of use-of-force incidents. It also reports the number of law enforcement officers killed or assaulted, but many state and local agencies do not report their own figures.

"It is incumbent upon all of us to protect both the safety of our police officers and the rights and well-being of all of our citizens," Holder said. "We can, and we must, examine new ways to do both."

Getting a better picture of both, Holder said, "would represent a commonsense step that would begin to address serious concerns about police officer safety, as well as the need to safeguard civil liberties."

First published January 15 2015, 8:56 AM

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Holder Calls For Better Data on Force by Police

WASHINGTON U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he wants the use of force by police and attacks on officers to be tracked nationwide as a way to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they protect.

"This would represent a commonsense step that would begin to address serious concerns about police officer safety, as well as the need to safeguard civil liberties," he said at a speech Thursday in Washington.

Holder's announcement comes as the Obama administration is seeking ways to ease tensions between citizens and law enforcement after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., in August and the death of another unarmed black man in police custody in New York. Both incidents sparked demonstrations, some of them violent, across the country.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation currently tracks "justifiable homicides" by police, though the tally doesn't include nonlethal police shootings or other use of force in which the victim survives. The data is provided voluntarily by local departments so not all of them participate.

The FBI also tracks when police officers are killed or attacked on the job. That data is also incomplete since it's provided voluntarily.

Holder said that because many jurisdictions don't provide such data because the reporting remains optional and department may lack sufficient incentives.

"This strikes many, including me, as unacceptable," Holder said in his remarks. "Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind."

In response to the protests, President Barack Obama has convened a panel to address distrust of police among minorities, and said he would ask Congress to fund a community-policing package that would help supply as many as 50,000 body-worn cameras for officers.

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Holder wants better nationwide tracking on police use of force

Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday the nation needs more data about the number of police shootings and the use of force by law enforcement officers, calling the lack of information about the police unacceptable.

The troubling reality is that we lack the ability right now to comprehensively track the number of incidents of either uses of force directed at police officers or uses of force by police, Mr. Holder said during a ceremony honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Justice Department headquarters in D.C.

Fixing this is an idea that we should all be able to unite behind, he added.

There have been calls for clearer information on incidents of violence that involve police since the August death of black teenager Michael Brown during a confrontation with a white police officer.

The departments Bureau of Justice Statistics often tracks the number of officers cleared of wrongdoing in fatal shootings called justifiable homicides but its more difficult to gather data about the total number of violent incidents. Likewise, its difficult to get an exact count on the incidents where police use physical force or have physical force used on them.

Some of the most up-to-date information the agency has comes from a 2011 study, which found that out of roughly 98 million arrests made between 2003 and 2009, about 4,800 people died while being arrested by law enforcement agents.

A little over 60 percent of those deaths 2,931 were labeled as homicides by law enforcement personnel, though the report did not go into detail on how many killings were ruled to be justified in the line of duty and how many were ruled to be mistakes by police.

The report did say that roughly half of all arrest-related deaths involved a suspect assaulting officers. Of those who died, 42 percent were white, 32 percent were black and 20 percent were Hispanic.

Mr. Holder called upon the Justice Department and the nation to meet difficult challenges head on, in the spirit of King.

Let us not shy away from, but embrace, the noisy discord of honest, frank and vigorous debate, the attorney general said. And let us reject the empty rhetoric of anyone who would engage in cynical attempts to divide and cast blame choosing instead to affirm once more that Americans from all backgrounds and perspectives must come together to be part of positive change.

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Eric Holder slams 'unacceptable' lack of info on police shootings

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