Deadly-force data lacking: Shootings by Arkansas police deserve study, officials say

Police in Arkansas shot at least 135 people in the past six years. Sixty-seven died.





During the same period, at least three Arkansas police officers were fatally shot by assailants, and 31 reported being shot at when they wounded or killed someone, according to research by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.





Those numbers come from the Democrat-Gazette’s efforts to count all deadly-force encounters — fatal or not — between the public and law enforcement from 2011-16.





The newspaper built a database from public records and media reports because reliable, official statistics on police shootings are hard to come by.





Split-second decisions weigh on officers

There’s a conference room in Little Rock where police officers cry.





It’s a corner suite on the second floor of the 12th Street Little Rock Police Department substation. Its windows overlook one of the city’s most violent neighborhoods.





Officers enter the room unarmed and in plain clothes. They’ve been placed on administrative leave, and their duty weapons are sealed in evidence bags at the state Crime Lab across town.





For the moment, they’re murder suspects.



