The FBI's recent update on use-of-force incidents among law enforcement officers reveals both an ongoing attempt to understand the landscape of police violence and a gap in the data necessary to provide a full picture. According to the "National Use-of-Force Data Collection Update, June 2025," released on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, we see figures that aim to quantify the instances in which force is applied in law enforcement contexts. The update highlighted that out of the participating agencies, which cover 78% of the law enforcement population, the types of use-of-force events reported from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, included death at 29.6%, serious bodily injury at 60.4%, and instances involving the discharge of a service weapon at 10.6%.
The goal of the National Use-of-Force Data Collection, as outlined by the Bureau, is to provide a nationwide aggregate view of the reported incidents. However, it's also noted that this collection is not designed to dive into the intricacies of individual cases, which are to be dealt with by local agencies. The current data reflects a shortfall in the desired 80% coverage threshold, meaning the actual number of incidents cannot yet be released. The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer website states, “The release of use-of-force incident data is contingent upon achieving an 80% coverage of the law enforcement population by participating agencies.”
One of the core purposes behind this data collection initiative is to foster transparency and accountability within law enforcement agencies. It aims to provide insight for the public and policymakers on the use-of-force trends at a national level. This can be instrumental in guiding future training, policy decisions, and reform measures within police departments nationwide. However, the data’s current limitation, with participating agencies still below the 80% threshold, indicates work remains to be done before a complete data set can be accessed for these purposes.
Despite these hurdles, the available figures shed some light on the frequency and severity of use-of-force incidents. The proportion of events resulting in serious bodily injury, taking the lion's share at 60.4%, underscores the critical nature of these incidents and the human toll they represent. This type of data provides the raw truth behind the headlines, and the figures that, when fully realized, hold the potential to guide us in meaningful discourse about law enforcement practices.
