Officer activity: Police shootings, deaths and assaults

The number of people killed by police has increased by a third in recent years, even as violent crime has trended downward and the number of officers assaulted or killed in the line of duty has dropped.

This is according to an analysis by this newspaper of federal data in the wake of high-profile officer-involved shootings in Cleveland, Beavercreek and Furguson, Mo. All three of the victims in these shootings were black and either unarmed or carrying a realistic-seeming toy or BB gun.

Explore data on the number of people killed by officers, the number of offenders involved in officers killed in the line of duty and the number of officers assaulted nationally with the charts below.

Killed by police

The number of national deaths attributed to "legal intervention" has risen sharply since 2008, to 550 deaths last year.

White suspects were killed more often than black suspects in this category, but the black suspects were killed at a higher rate (per 100,000 in population), by almost double over white suspects.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

Offenders in police deaths in the line of duty

Of known offenders involved in the felonious deaths of law enforcement officers since 2004, slighly more than half (51.2 percent) have been white, and about 43 percent have been black.

Whether more known offenders have been black or white each year has fluctuated with no defined pattern.

Source: FBI

Officers assaulted

Between one-quarter and one-third of assaults against police officers each year result in injury, according to FBI statistics.

The number of assaults has dropped sharply since 2008, when more than 61,000 assaults were reported.

Source: FBI

Reporting: Josh Sweigart and Kyle Nagel | Page production: Kyle Nagel | Published: Nov. 30, 2014