Over the past twelve months, police in the United States have been killing civilians at a rate of 80- to 115-per month.  This is despite the outcry and months of protests over high profile police shootings of unarmed people.  In fact, the high number of 115 happened just last month.

According to the website killedbypolice.net which compiles such statistics, March’s death toll was 30 higher than the previous month, 24 higher than January, and still higher than the same month a year earlier.  The deaths follow a national pattern:  The civilians killed by police were mostly people of color, mentally ill, or both.

The worst part is that these numbers are only an approximation, and could be undercounted.  The US has no mechanism for keeping track of police killings, and the website gathers its material from corporate news accounts.

Last year, US President Barack Obama created the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which issued its report last month (.pdf link).  It recommended that police employ better tactics to reduce the number of killings.  So far, that doesn’t appear to be happening.