In the months since a police officer killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., a lot of time and energy has been spent pondering the uncomfortable question of whether police officers are too quick to kill people of color.

The lack of data either way means much of the debate has relied on anecdotes, over-generalization and stereotypes. But in California at least, there are good, hard numbers from which to draw conclusions – and it doesn't look good for those who doubt that race is a factor in the use of deadly force.

How confident can we be that police departments do a fair and adequate job of investigating deadly encounters between their officers and the public? How confident can we be that district attorneys and grand juries act impartially when deciding whether to charge officers with crimes?

On Sunday, this newspaper provided an editorial addressing this thorny dilemma (“When the police are investigated”). Its intent was not to provide an answer but simply to promote dialogue and healthy debate.

Well, here goes. I concede the question is straightforward, but the answer may be less elusive, if we have an end result in mind.