3-4Police killings per million people/year — US rate
0.03UK police killing rate per million/year
1,176People killed by US police in 2022 (Mapping Police Violence)
3×More likely Black person killed by police vs white (per capita)
In America, police kill about 1,200 people per year. In the UK, police kill fewer than 3 people per year — in a country of 67 million. If the UK had American police killing rates, they would have 220 deaths per year instead of 3. This isn't because Americans are more criminal — it's because of how policing is trained, armed, and legally protected in the US versus other democracies.
The US rate of police-caused deaths (3.4/million) is unique among wealthy democracies. Causes: universal police armament (guns), qualified immunity doctrine (near-impossible to sue officers), decentralized policing (18,000 agencies with no national standard), warrior-cop training culture, and historically different social function (slave patrol origins in South; labor suppression in North). Black Americans are killed at 3× the rate of white Americans per capita. Compared internationally: Germany 0.13, France 0.17, Canada 0.98, Australia 0.08, UK 0.03, Japan 0.00.
Mapping Police Violence (MPV) 2022 data: 1,176 killed, most comprehensive database. FBI UCR "Justifiable Homicides" severely undercounts (voluntary reporting, ~46% of agencies report). Edwards et al. (2019) PNAS: lifetime risk of being killed by police: Black men 1 in 1,000; white men 1 in 2,500. Qualified immunity: Pearson v. Callahan (2009) — virtually eliminates civil rights suits against officers; Scott v. Harris (2007). Use-of-force standards: Tennessee v. Garner (1985) deadly force rule; Graham v. Connor (1989) "objectively reasonable" standard. Reform evidence: Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT/co-responder models) reduce use of force 50-60% in documented studies (Compton et al., Psych Services).
Mapping Police Violence: mappingpoliceviolence.org. Statista/OECD international comparison data. Edwards et al. (2019) PNAS 116(34):16793-16798. Washington Post "Fatal Force" database: washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database. FBI UCR justifiable homicide data. Pearson v. Callahan 555 US 223 (2009). Compton et al. (2014) Psych Services 65(4):476-480. 8 Can't Wait reform framework: 8cantwait.org. Campaign Zero data: joincampaignzero.org.
The International Outlier — By the Numbers
The US kills far more people through police than any comparable democracy. This is consistent over decades, not a recent anomaly.
Police Killings per Million Population — International Comparison (2022)
Annual rate of police-caused deaths per 1 million people (log scale)
US Police Killings by Race (2022)
Per-capita rate shows 3× disparity for Black Americans
States with Highest Police Killing Rates (per million, 2022)
Geographic variation — some states are as bad as authoritarian nations
The Qualified Immunity Shield
Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine (not in any statute) that requires plaintiffs to find an existing court case with nearly identical facts before an officer can be held civilly liable. The standard is so high that officers have been granted immunity for: shooting a 10-year-old while trying to shoot a dog, throwing a flashbang grenade into a baby's crib, and shooting an unarmed man who was complying with commands. Congress has repeatedly failed to reform or eliminate it. States have started to act: Colorado, New Mexico, and New York eliminated qualified immunity for state law claims.
Sources
Mapping Police Violence Database (2024) · Edwards, Lee & Esposito, PNAS (2019) · Washington Post Fatal Force Database · FBI UCR Justifiable Homicide Data · OECD International Crime Statistics · Compton et al., Psychiatric Services (2014) · Campaign Zero Policy Analysis