Mapping Police Violence Inc. (MPV) is a left-leaning research project that runs an online data portal tracking the deaths of individuals in police custody. The project asserts that data shows that Black Americans are three times more likely to be killed by police than other ethnic groups, and 33 percent more likely to be killed while unarmed. Its partner site, Police Score Card, tracks data from more than 13,000 police districts across the country, using the data to spread a narrative of widespread racism, coverups, and police misconduct. ¹

MPV’s website was originally hosted by Black Lives Matter/We the Protestors spinoff and anti-police-brutality organization Campaign Zero. ² MPV also partners with the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator (GHELI) at Harvard University. ³

Methodology

Mapping Police Violence draws its data from use-of-force resources from different precincts around the United States, as well as the Fatal Encounters program. MPV also sources data from social media, obituaries, and police reports to identify victims’ race. While acknowledging that its data is not 100 percent accurate, MPV asserts that it is the “most comprehensive accounting of people killed by police since 2013,” and boasts that it is more complete than a similar data tracker hosted by the Washington Post which only tracks police shootings, and not deaths by choke-hold, taser, or other cause, as well as deaths caused by police officers who were off duty. ⁴

However, the data, by MPV’s own estimation, is only about 92 percent accurate as it does not include data not reported by the media. Additionally, the 92 percent estimate itself is based upon another estimate by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. That agency estimated that 1,200 people were killed by police between June 2015 and May 2016, of which 1,014 of which were collected by MPV’s data tracker. ⁵

FBI Data Collection

Mapping Police Violence called into question the accuracy of the FBI’s National Use of Force Data Collection program, citing a lack of full participation by police departments across the country, and pointing out that it was in danger of being shut down because of lack of participation. ⁶

The FBI’s program was started with a limited number of precincts in 2017 and fully launched nationwide in 2019, mandating “the location and circumstances of every force incident, and detailed information on both the subject and the officers involved.” Built into the project were a series of thresholds, stating that up if up to 59 percent of police officers were covered, the FBI would publish limited data pertaining to the incidents, and requiring that at least 60 percent of officers be represented in the data before the FBI could publish “the most frequently reported responses to questions, expressed in either ratios, percentages or in a list format.” If the threshold of 80 percent were met, the FBI would be allowed to fully disseminate all collected data. If the program did not meet at least the 60 percent threshold by the end of 2022, as determined by the Office of Management and Budget, it was to be discontinued. ⁷

This initiative was bolstered by President Donald Trump issuing an executive order following the 2020 death of George Floyd and the subsequent civil unrest that resulted. However, in June 2021, it was reported that only 27 percent of police departments (representing 57 percent of officers) had taken part in the program, with one former police chief of Houston, Texas saying the requirements were “too cumbersome.” ⁸

Founder

Samuel Sinyangwe, founder of Mapping Police Violence, is a data analyst, researcher, and the co-founder of We the Protestors, Police Scorecard, and Campaign Zero. Sinyangwe eventually left Campaign Zero and accused co-founder DeRay McKesson of stealing his research and hijacking MPV’s website and donations as retaliation for complaints by Sinyangwe that revealed conflict between that organization’s four founders. Singyangwe also accused McKesson of not crediting him with a chapter he wrote for the book On the Other Side of Freedom. McKesson denies that Sinyangwe wrote the chapter. ^{9 10}

1. “Findings.” Police Score Card. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://policescorecard.org/findings
2. Owens, Ernest. “BLM Activist Accuses DeRay McKesson of Stealing His Work in Ugly Spat.” January 31, 2022. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://www.thedailybeast.com/campaign-zero-co-founder-samuel-sinyangwe-accuses-deray-mckesson-of-copyright-infringement
3. “Mapping Police Violence.” GHELI Website. Accessed September 12, 2022.  https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/13377/
4. “About the Data.” Mapping Police Violence. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/aboutthedata
5. “About the Data.” Mapping Police Violence. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/aboutthedata
6. “About the Data.” Mapping Police Violence. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/aboutthedata
7. Jackman, Tom. “FBI May Shut Down Police Use-of -Force Program Due to Lack of Police Participation.” Washington Times. December 9, 2021. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2021/12/09/fbi-police-shooting-data/
8.  ^[1] Jackman, Tom. “For a Second Year, Most Police Departments Decline to Share Information on their Use of Force.” Washington Post. June 9, 2021. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/09/police-use-of-force-data/
9. Owens, Ernest. “BLM Activist Accuses DeRay McKesson of Stealing His Work in Ugly Spat.” January 31, 2022. Accessed September 12, 2022. https://www.thedailybeast.com/campaign-zero-co-founder-samuel-sinyangwe-accuses-deray-mckesson-of-copyright-infringement
10. Owens, Ernest. “The Rise and Rupture of Campaign Zero.” New York Magazine. January 31, 2022. Accessed September 12, 2022.  https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/campaign-zero-rise-and-fall.html