An FBI project designed to finally quantify use-of-force trends by police around the country is in danger of folding in 2022 because of lack of participation by local police forces, including most of those in Missouri and Illinois. This is perhaps a predictable result of essentially asking local police to voluntarily compile and turn over data that could make them look bad. The solution isn't that complicated: Congress should require police to provide this information.

Intense public focus in recent years on police violence against citizens has produced promising reforms around the country. But because of limited information available regarding use-of-force incidents, it's difficult to determine whether those reforms are working. As then-FBI Director James Comey put it in 2016, the agency has "no idea whether the number of Black people or brown people or white people being shot by police" is going up or down.

As a result, every time there's a high-profile incident of police violence, the same old debate arises: Is this an instance of one bad apple, or evidence of systemic police problems? And there's no underlying data to address the question.

In 2019, the FBI began its National Use-of-Force Data Collection program, asking police departments all over America to provide information on every incident of violence involving officers. The problem is, it's just that: an ask. Local police departments aren't required to submit that data to the FBI.

If at least 60% of officers nationally aren't covered by the submitted data by the end of this year, the program will fail to meet the standards set by the Office of Management and Budget, which means the program would have to shut down. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office says the program is so far failing to meet that standard.

In Missouri, St. Louis city and county law enforcement both have complied with the data request, but most other departments in the state haven't. As the Post-Dispatch's Josh Renaud reported recently, only 28 out of Missouri's 632 police agencies had participated as of the end of September, representing just 36% of the sworn officers in the state. Participation rates in Illinois are even worse: 148 out of 983 agencies are participating, encompassing just 21% of the state's officers.

The Washington Post recently reported that part of the problem is confusion among departments about how to report incidents, or they lack resources to do it. That must be addressed. But it's clear the problem is also that some departments simply don't want the FBI — and, by extension, the country — looking over their shoulders.

Too bad. Good cops should want a transparent and open accounting of police practices with an eye toward reform. It would be a simple matter for Congress to require such reporting as a condition of continued federal funding to police departments. Voters should demand it.

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