Latinos & Native Americans More Likely To Be Killed By The Police According To New Data

Latinos and Native Americans are disproportionately affected by police violence, often being much younger at the time of their deaths compared to white Americans, according to new data from Campaign Zero. The organization's mapping initiative reveals that since 2013, nearly 13,400 people have been killed by police in the U.S., with Latinos and Indigenous people comprising about 22% of those deaths, likely more.

Campaign Zero's database tracks incidents where a law enforcement officer's use of force results in death, relying on media reports and daily internet searches for the latest police shootings. The organization verifies these incidents before adding them to the database, which they claim captures 92% of all police killings since 2013. If race or ethnicity cannot be confirmed, individuals are categorized as "unknown race," according to Campaign Zero's executive director, DeRay Mckesson.

Native Americans are 3.2 times more likely and Latinos 1.3 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans, as highlighted by Abdul Nasser Rad, Campaign Zero's managing director for research and data. Since 2013, over 2,600 Latinos and approximately 220 Indigenous people have died due to police violence, accounting for higher per capita death rates than their population share. The average age of Latinos killed by police is 34, while it's 33 for Native Americans, compared to 40 for white Americans.

However, the actual number of Latinos killed by police might be higher due to inconsistent tracking of racial and ethnic data. An Axios review found several individuals with Spanish surnames, like Randall Gamboa Jr. and Johnny Vigil, classified as "unknown race."

Neighborhoods with predominantly Black, Latino, or Native American populations have higher rates of police killings, often experiencing aggressive policing. Despite concerns, Timothy Dimoff, a former law enforcement officer, believes progress has been made in training and recruiting minority officers, stating, "There has been a lot of progress made in the last five or 10 years."

Link: Axios