Let me be more clear. This thread isn't particularly about a case being in the news.
I'm not talking about cases getting news coverage. What gets on the news is going to be what gets on the news. Without an independent outlet you wouldn't know what would be counted, and like someone pointed you can not only rely on the news.
1. A lot of homeless and mentally ill do not have active family to fight for their stories
2. Every shooting is not picked up for the news
4. every police killing isn't a shooting or easily identifiable
3. media is hassled by police
4. there are communities that are news deserts because local journalism has been gutted
That is not a sufficient way of tracking police killings
Im talking about deaths being officially reported in FBI statistics. Which affects laws, funding and government oversight.
Whether people want to protest or not for a death that gets reported in a local paper, that death should still be counted in regards to federal statistics so that the epidemic can be handled. Policy makers can't use news articles to measure trends and push policy because there's no standardized record and consistent tracking of race, weapon, legal outcome, etc...
There needs to be more pressure to remove funding and give harsh penalties for inaccurate and non reporting. Hospitals are required to report certain deaths, police should be held to the same and higher standard.
The CDC tracks disease deaths regardless of hospital compliance. There should be an independent database that can track these cases using data from multiples sources(police reports, media, autopsy reports, lawsuits). Medical examiners should be required to flag deaths involving police.