When do statistics count?

[Jehanne]

This is where proportional analysis is so very important, proportions being dimensionless quantities. For instance, what proportion of the population, black or white, is shot by the police while not in the act of committing a crime? Committing a crime but not armed? Committing a violent crime but not armed? Committing a violent crime while armed with a lethal weapon? Fleeing from the police? Armed or not?