Interactive: Comparing police forces vs. communities by race

The recent verdict to not indict a white police officer who shot and kiled a black man in Ferguson, Mo. has spotlighted the issue of how closely a community’s police force resembles the people in that community.

With nearly all of its 53-person police force made up of white officers patrolling a black-majority community, Ferguson represents an extreme end of racial disparity between police and community populations. But a review of 2005-2010 data for more than 700 U.S. communities shows that situations where the rate of white officers exceeds the rate of white residents are relatively common.

View the graphic below for more:

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