WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation will launch a program to keep tabs on police officer-involved shootings and other uses of deadly force across the United States, beginning next year.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the pilot program Thursday.
“Accurate and comprehensive data on the use of force by law enforcement is essential to an informed and productive discussion about community-police relations,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in a statement.
“The initiatives we are announcing today are vital efforts toward increasing transparency and building trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve.”
The FBI first unveiled details of the plan last week and posted it to the Federal Register for public comment.
Justice officials noted four initiatives involved in the effort to collect such widespread data — collecting the data, compliance and reporting for the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2014, and the White House’s Police Data Initiative, an effort to facilitate transparency among police departments.
The FBI began collecting nationwide data last year, the department said.
The new program, a direct result of Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, will be fully operational sometime next year.
