Systematic police racism and police brutality cases in the United States are at the forefront of our nation’s consciousness. The number of black people killed by police is incomprehensible and the entire world has taken notice. Police violence and the unnecessary use of excessive force which has disproportionately affected the black community has become so […]
Systematic police racism and police brutality cases in the United States are at the forefront of our nation’s consciousness. The number of black people killed by police is incomprehensible and the entire world has taken notice. Police violence and the unnecessary use of excessive force which has disproportionately affected the black community has become so commonplace that many are calling for reform and a complete rebuilding of the U.S. policing system.
Which police departments kill the most people each year? This visualization shows the police brutality rates by police department across the United States.
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<img src="https://www.yourlawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/police-deparment-police-homicides-8b.png" alt="Which Police Departments Lead the Nation in Police Homicides? - YourLawyer.com - Infographic" title="Which Police Departments Lead the Nation in Police Homicides? - YourLawyer.com - Infographic"></a><br><a href="https://yourlawyercom.wpengine.com" alt="YourLawyer.com" title="YourLawyer.com">By YourLawyer.com</a>Following the recent high profile killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville by police officers, protests erupted in major cities all around the United States and even around the world. Excessive force utilized by police officers against black people is all too common and it’s clear it’s not just the doing of a few “bad apples” or racist cops; there is a deep-rooted police racism problem. The Black Lives Matter movement is bringing awareness and shining a spotlight on racial profiling, systematic racism in police culture, the all-too-common use of excessive force against black people, and the shocking number of black people killed by police each year.
Counting only the 100 largest police departments in the United States, 259 black people were killed by police in 2019. During that same time frame, 406 white people were killed by police. These numbers become deeply troubling when you consider that there are nearly twice as many white people than there are black people in these jurisdictions (24,117,461 and 12,662,657 respectively).
These and other Black Lives Matter statistics are troubling, but it is important to identify the problem before it can be solved.
The Reno Police Department killed the most black people per one million black citizens with an annual average of 71.5 black people from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2019. See below for more police brutality statistics on the 25 police departments that killed the most black people during that time frame.
Compared to how many white people those departments killed per 1 million white citizens.
| Rank | Police Department | Average Annual Police Homicide Rate for Black People per 1M Black Citizens | Average Annual Police Homicide Rate for White People per 1M White Citizens |
| 1 | Reno Police Department | 71.5 | 4.1 |
| 2 | Anaheim Police Department | 52.2 | 4.6 |
| 3 | Santa Ana Police Department | 45.0 | 4.8 |
| 4 | Scottsdale Police Department | 41.0 | 3.1 |
| 5 | Oklahoma City Police Department | 40.0 | 6.1 |
| 6 | St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department | 32.9 | 3.2 |
| 7 | Spokane Police Department | 30.8 | 9.0 |
| 8 | Lincoln Police Department | 29.9 | 0.7 |
| 9 | Albuquerque Police Department | 28.8 | 6.2 |
| 10 | Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department | 27.6 | 13.8 |
| 11 | Madison Police Department | 26.0 | 4.0 |
| 12 | Phoenix Police Department | 24.7 | 8.5 |
| 13 | Hialeah Police Department | 23.6 | 15.0 |
| 14 | Aurora Police Department | 23.3 | 6.5 |
| 15 | Glendale Police Department | 22.4 | 6.1 |
| 16 | Riverside Police Department | 21.5 | 0.0 |
| 17 | Fremont Police Department | 21.2 | 2.5 |
| 18 | Orlando Police Department | 20.2 | 4.3 |
| 19 | Jersey City Police Department | 19.4 | 0.0 |
| 20 | Fort Wayne Police Department | 18.5 | 2.4 |
| 21 | Kansas City Police Department | 17.9 | 4.0 |
| 22 | Columbus Division of Police | 17.7 | 3.4 |
| 23 | Stockton Police Department | 17.1 | 6.4 |
| 24 | Long Beach Police Department | 16.7 | 5.3 |
| 25 | St. Paul Police Department | 16.4 | 2.7 |
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police department killed the most people per one million citizens with an annual average of 17.9 people from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2019. Another recent police brutality facts analysis by YourLawyer.com showed the same result with St. Louis having the most police brutality victims by gunshot from 2000-2018. See below for police killings statistics on the 100 largest police departments in the United States.
| Rank | Police Department | Average Annual Police Homicide Rate Per 1M Citizens |
| 1 | St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department | 17.9 |
| 2 | Oklahoma City Police Department | 11.8 |
| 3 | Phoenix Police Department | 11.0 |
| 4 | Orlando Police Department | 10.8 |
| 5 | Spokane Police Department | 10.3 |
| 6 | Bakersfield Police Department | 9.9 |
| 7 | Tulsa Police Department | 9.8 |
| 8 | Aurora Police Department | 9.2 |
| 9 | Reno Police Department | 8.9 |
| 10 | Stockton Police Department | 8.8 |
| 11 | Kansas City Police Department | 8.7 |
| 12 | Albuquerque Police Department | 8.4 |
| 13 | Mesa Police Department | 8.1 |
| 14 | Tucson Police Department | 7.7 |
| 15 | Long Beach Police Department | 7.4 |
| 16 | Denver Police Department | 7.4 |
| 17 | Columbus Division of Police | 7.3 |
| 18 | Baltimore Police Department | 7.1 |
| 19 | Santa Ana Police Department | 7.0 |
| 20 | San Bernardino Police Department | 6.8 |
| 21 | Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office | 6.8 |
| 22 | Fresno Police Department | 6.6 |
| 23 | St. Paul Police Department | 6.5 |
| 24 | Norfolk Police Department | 6.5 |
| 25 | Anchorage Police Department | 6.4 |
| 26 | Glendale Police Department | 6.3 |
| 27 | Baton Rouge Police Department | 6.2 |
| 28 | St. Petersburg Police Department | 5.8 |
| 29 | Austin Police Department | 5.8 |
| 30 | Cincinnati Police Department | 5.8 |
| 31 | Newark Police Department | 5.7 |
| 32 | Anaheim Police Department | 5.5 |
| 33 | Arlington Police Department | 5.5 |
| 34 | Seattle Police Department | 5.4 |
| 35 | Fort Worth Police Department | 5.4 |
| 36 | Memphis Police Department | 5.3 |
| 37 | Louisville Metro Police Department | 5.3 |
| 38 | Scottsdale Police Department | 5.3 |
| 39 | Omaha Police Department | 5.2 |
| 40 | Colorado Springs Police Department | 5.1 |
| 41 | Atlanta Police Department | 5.1 |
| 42 | Fort Wayne Police Department | 5.1 |
| 43 | San Antonio Police Department | 5.1 |
| 44 | Garland Police Department | 5.0 |
| 45 | New Orleans Police Department | 5.0 |
| 46 | Madison Police Department | 4.9 |
| 47 | Wichita Police Department | 4.9 |
| 48 | Laredo Police Department | 4.8 |
| 49 | Dallas Police Department | 4.8 |
| 50 | Houston Police Department | 4.8 |
| 51 | Birmingham Police Department | 4.7 |
| 52 | Fremont Police Department | 4.7 |
| 53 | Los Angeles Police Department | 4.7 |
| 54 | Irving Police Department | 4.6 |
| 55 | Jersey City Police Department | 4.6 |
| 56 | North Las Vegas Police Department | 4.6 |
| 57 | Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department | 4.5 |
| 58 | DC Metropolitan Police Department | 4.5 |
| 59 | Portland Police Bureau | 4.4 |
| 60 | Durham Police Department | 4.4 |
| 61 | Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department | 4.2 |
| 62 | Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department | 4.1 |
| 63 | Chicago Police Department | 4.0 |
| 64 | Sacramento Police Department | 4.0 |
| 65 | Miami Police Department | 3.9 |
| 66 | Henderson Police Department | 3.9 |
| 67 | Milwaukee Police Department | 3.8 |
| 68 | Tampa Police Department | 3.8 |
| 69 | Riverside Police Department | 3.8 |
| 70 | Cleveland Police Department | 3.6 |
| 71 | El Paso Police Department | 3.5 |
| 72 | Toledo Police Department | 3.5 |
| 73 | San Jose Police Department | 3.3 |
| 74 | Oakland Police Department | 3.3 |
| 75 | San Diego Police Department | 3.3 |
| 76 | Corpus Christi Police Department | 3.3 |
| 77 | Pittsburgh Police Department | 3.3 |
| 78 | San Francisco Police Department | 3.2 |
| 79 | Philadelphia Police Department | 3.1 |
| 80 | Chandler Police Department | 3.0 |
| 81 | Honolulu Police Department | 3.0 |
| 82 | Minneapolis Police Department | 3.0 |
| 83 | Boston Police Department | 2.8 |
| 84 | Rochester Police Department | 2.7 |
| 85 | Metropolitan Nashville Police Department | 2.6 |
| 86 | Detroit Police Department | 2.6 |
| 87 | Hialeah Police Department | 2.5 |
| 88 | Virginia Beach Police Department | 2.0 |
| 89 | Lubbock Police Department | 1.9 |
| 90 | Winston-Salem Police Department | 1.9 |
| 91 | Lincoln Police Department | 1.7 |
| 92 | Buffalo Police Department | 1.6 |
| 93 | Greensboro Police Department | 1.6 |
| 94 | Lexington Police Department | 1.4 |
| 95 | Raleigh Police Department | 1.4 |
| 96 | New York Police Department | 1.3 |
| 97 | Chesapeake Police Department | 1.3 |
| 98 | Chula Vista Police Department | 1.2 |
| 99 | Plano Police Department | 1.1 |
| 100 | Irvine Police Department | 0.0 |
Police brutality is when a police officer uses unnecessary or excessive force against a person; it is also known as police violence and is considered a civil rights violation.
Police misconduct is when an officer carries out illegal or inappropriate actions in connection with official police business. This can include police abuse of power, corruption, sexual misconduct, and more.
If you’ve been involved in a police violence incident, it can be hard to know whether the use of force against you was justified. Having a good police brutality definition can be useful if you find yourself in such a situation and think you might need to contact a police misconduct attorney.
Related: The Cities With the Most Fatal Police Shootings in the U.S.
