"I'll do as you say, but private police killings won't stop a revolution and that's where we're headed."

But convictions in police killings of civilians are rare.

By 1985, police killings had fallen to about one-third of what they had averaged.

He was plainly sensitive to the outcry over police killings of black protesters at Sebokeng.

Harlem riot touched off by police killing of a young black boy.

In 1984, drug-related cases accounted for 7 percent of police killings.

Drug cases accounted for 7 percent of the 1,643 police killings in that period.

His 2009 assassination is widely attributed to his work in documenting police killings.

Drug-related violence and police killings drive this year's debate, and public sentiment is understandable.

There is also evidence, he said, that some of the police killings are linked to personal motives, not organized crime.