The Cline Center for Advanced Social Research and an interdisciplinary team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experts, including Professor Jennifer Robbennolt, have developed a statewide registry on the use of lethal force by police officers in Illinois to improve accountability and rebuild the public perception of law enforcement.

The Systematic Policing Oversight Through Lethal-Force Incident Tracking Environment project, called “SPOTLITE,” identified more than twice as many police-involved shooting incidents than previously reported by the Illinois State Police, for a total of 694 lethal force incidents involving 734 civilians from 2014-21. Instead of relying on data supplied by law enforcement agencies themselves, the SPOTLITE database draws from news reports of police shooting incidents to provide initial details of what happened where, and to whom.

The project stems from calls for police accountability and reform in the aftermath of fatal police shootings involving unarmed Black citizens. The SPOTLITE project was funded by the Chancellor’s Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program as part of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s antiracism initiatives.

Read the full story at news.illinois.edu.