The Washington Post launched the “Fatal Force Database,” an extensive project that painstakingly tracks and records killings by police in the US. It focuses only on situations in which law enforcement officers shoot and kill civilians while they are on duty. It offers crucial information such as the deceased’s race, the shooting’s circumstances, whether the victim was carrying a weapon, and whether or not they were going through a mental health crisis. Information is gathered for data gathering from a variety of sources, including independent databases like Fatal Encounters, social media, police enforcement websites, and local news reports. Notably, an upgrade to the database was made in 2022 in order to standardize and make public the identities of the participating police agencies, thereby improving departmental accountability and transparency. Unlike federal sources such as the FBI and CDC, this dataset has continuously recorded over twice as many fatal police shootings since 2015, highlighting a serious data gap and highlighting the necessity of thorough tracking. Constantly updated, it continues to be an invaluable tool for scholars, decision-makers, and the general public, providing information about shootings involving police, encouraging openness, and adding to the ongoing conversations about police reform and accountability.