John Shjarback News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

You can endlessly parse raw numbers that seem to tell an alarming story. When examined more carefully, they challenge the claim that police shootings are a national crisis.

There are some uncomfortable facts about the number of suspects killed by police.

When Dexter Reed died in a shootout with Chicago police on March 21, the incident was quickly grafted onto a narrative that began in 2014 after a policeman killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. – namely, that the U.S. faces an epidemic of violence by unbridled cops who do not believe black lives matter. “Killing of Dexter Reed raises questions about Chicago police reform. ‘The message is, go in guns blazing,’” blared a headline in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Criminologists say fatal police shootings aren't due to racist or trigger-happy police officers but rather a handful of factors at work.

Reported assault incidents against Minnesota police officers are up 160% from a decade ago, including everything from intimidation, biting and punching to an assault with a deadly...