Comey misses the mark here - it’s not an epidemic, and I don’t think that the leaders of Black Lives Matter think it’s epidemic. This is not a sudden occurrence - it is something that’s been here all along. Abuse of force is not epidemic, it’s endemic in some police agencies. There hasn’t been a sudden uptick, but now that people can see it happening they are fed up.

SAN DIEGO — FBI Director James Comey told a gathering of police chiefs that people who think there’s an epidemic of police shootings of black people aren’t well-informed.

He touched on a theme he has pursued for more than a year: trying to get police to embrace the need to report statistics on officer-involved shootings. Better numbers, Comey argues, would help the nation understand whether there is a real epidemic of police killings of black men or if the advent of viral videos shared in social media are giving the impression that there are more lethal confrontations between police and minorities.

“A small group of videos serve as an epidemic” Comey argued Sunday.

More: FBI director: Stats don’t back up claims about police shooting epidemic