'Guardian' investigation: Police in Kern County kill residents at highest rate in U.S.

A Kern County Sheriff's Office patrol vehicle.

A new series from The Guardian finds that police in Kern County have killed more people per capita than in any other county in the U.S. in 2015.

The use of lethal force by police has gotten a lot of attention lately in the media, but it's a tough topic for Americans to truly get a handle on.

That's in large part because the federal government keeps no nationwide record on police shootings. But the news site "The Guardian" has been working to build a database of officer involved deaths across the country. Their work is similar to reporting at KPCC which found 375 people were shot by police in L.A. County over the past five years.

And yet, L.A. is not the California county currently holding the title of most people killed per capita this year. That dubious honor goes to Kern County, where 13 people have been killed in 2015.

Reporter Jon Swaine joined Take Two to discuss Part 1 of The Guardian's five-part series, "The County: the story of America's deadliest police."

To hear the full interview with Jon Swaine, click the link above.