The number of officer-involved shootings in Virginia increased to 45 in 2024, nearly double the rate recorded in 2019, according to the Virginia State Police Crime in Virginia 2024 report. The number of fatal shootings, 31, was two-and-a-half times higher than five years previously.

The Crime in Virginia report classifies every one of the shootings as either “justified” or “pending.”

One of two things (or perhaps both) seems likely: Either police are playing faster and looser with their guns, or the public’s interactions with the police are getting increasingly contentious. Either way, the trend is disturbing and bears looking into.

In the old days, when legacy media actually had resources to follow stories like this, someone would have dug into the numbers. No longer. The Washington Post compiled a database of fatal shootings, which can be found here. Shootings in 2024 are included, but that is the last year. The newspaper stopped updating the database in 2025 and apparently has no plans to resume it.