(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The number of deadly police shootings in the U.S. went down 24 percent from 2021 to 2023. That’s according to research at the University of Illinois.

The university’s Cline Center for Advanced Social Research has been compiling these numbers for almost a decade. Center director Scott Althaus, a political science professor, says the goal is to spread understanding.

Althaus adds we don’t know exactly why the numbers are down.

“It’s less clear from our data what is driving this, and so it’s hard to know whether this decline represents some improvement in the quality of decision-making by officers in these situations or whether this might be the result of underpolicing and withdrawal from victimized communities,” Althaus said. We can’t tell, but we are documenting these developments.”