WASHINGTON • Between 2003 and 2009, an average of more than one person a day was killed by local and state law enforcement officers during arrests or while in custody, according to the Department of Justice, although a large majority were likely ruled justifiable homicides.

The Office of Justice Programs' 2011 report found that over seven years starting in 2003, 4,813 deaths occurred during 97.9 million arrests in 47 states and the District of Columbia that provided statistics for the voluntary report. About six in 10 - 2,931 in total - were classified as homicide by law enforcement personnel, according to the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

From 2003-2009, according to the DOJ report, there were 26 deaths in Missouri during arrests, with 15 ruled homicides

But this DOJ report did not delineate between justifiable homicide and those in which officers may have been charged, criminally or in civil proceedings. Separate FBI statistics indicate more than nine out of 10 were likely to be determined to be justifiable.

The FBI recorded 387 justifiable homicides by law enforcement in 2010. The DOJ's report said an annual average of 419 homicides during arrest were committed by law enforcement in the seven previous years.