--- title: FBI Head Calls Lack Policing Shooting Data 'Embarrassing' description: The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday that the lack of government data on police shootings is "embarrassing." canonical: https://time.com/4066558/police-shootings-data-fbi/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-08T15:52:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:38:41.971Z article:section: Politics og:title: FBI Head Calls Lack of Police Shooting Data 'Embarrassing' og:description: He said the lack of data is "embarrassing" and "ridiculous" og:url: https://time.com/4066558/police-shootings-data-fbi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67a1d64c36519695/69877f06524fc051b2dec769/ap355082103519.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: James Comey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FBI Head Calls Lack of Police Shooting Data 'Embarrassing' twitter:description: He said the lack of data is "embarrassing" and "ridiculous" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67a1d64c36519695/69877f06524fc051b2dec769/ap355082103519.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FBI Head Calls Lack of Data on Police Shootings 'Embarrassing'  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 8, 2015 3:52 PM UTC  FBI Director James Comey discusses race and law enforcement on Feb. 12, 2015 at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. FBI Director James Comey discusses race and law enforcement on Feb. 12, 2015 at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.Cliff Owen—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 8, 2015 3:52 PM UTC The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday that the lack of government data on police shootings is “embarrassing” and “ridiculous.” “It is unacceptable that The Washington _Post_ and the _Guardian_ newspaper from the U.K. are becoming the lead source of information about violent encounters between police and civilians,” director James Comey said at a gathering of more than 100 politicians and law enforcement officials, [the Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fbi-director-calls-lack-of-data-on-police-shootings-ridiculous-embarrassing/2015/10/07/c0ebaf7a-6d16-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28%5Fstory.html). “You can get online today and figure out how many tickets were sold to ‘The Martian,’ which I saw this weekend. . . . The CDC can do the same with the flu,” Comey said. “It’s ridiculous — it’s embarrassing and ridiculous — that we can’t talk about crime in the same way, especially in the high-stakes incidents when your officers have to use force.” The lack of official data on police shootings leaves law enforcement officials unable to place high profile cases in the context of larger trends. According to [the Washington Post’s tally](http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings/), which Comey cited in his comments, 758 people have been shot and killed by police in the U.S. so far in 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4066558/police-shootings-data-fbi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4066558/police-shootings-data-fbi/"},"headline":"FBI Head Calls Lack of Data on Police Shootings 'Embarrassing'","datePublished":"2015-10-08T15:52:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:38:41.971Z","description":"“It’s ridiculous — it’s embarrassing and ridiculous\"","url":"https://time.com/4066558/police-shootings-data-fbi/","keywords":["FBI","Guns"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67a1d64c36519695/69877f06524fc051b2dec769/ap355082103519.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67a1d64c36519695/69877f06524fc051b2dec769/ap355082103519.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"James Comey","caption":"James Comey","creditText":"Cliff Owen—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/fbi/","name":"FBI"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4066558/police-shootings-data-fbi/","name":"FBI Head Calls Lack of Data on Police Shootings 'Embarrassing'"}}]}] ```