Isn’t it nice how academic liberals and other superior groups encourage their children to go into law enforcement, firefighting, EMT, and Paramedic jobs?
I really appreciate that cop hating hasn’t devolved into a tribal shibboleth and is instead entirely based on a genuine desire for positive change. This genuine desire for positive change is the reason that so many left leaning families are taking on dangerous jobs that used to be predominately filled by working class conservatives.
Back when said working class conservatives took on the majority of dangerous jobs, there used to be a perception that the challenge of their job was not understood or appreciated by urban progressives who were vastly underrepresented within their own ranks.
Can we please dispel of this myth that policing is an especially “dangerous” job?
They have lower on-the-job fatality rates than roofers, farmers, crossing guards, delivery drivers, construction helpers and garbage collectors, to name a few, and you don’t get this whole martyr culture in any of those other professions.
And for the record, I have worked at least three of those jobs ranked above cops in terms of “danger.”
The danger of the jobs you mention are due to accidents not direct confrontation - very different psychologically. Police officers are also on that list at number 22. Why would it be a myth to dispel if it is on the top 25 list? Do you think there are 25 jobs? There are thousands and thousands of jobs.
Also, do you think a cross section of that dangerous jobs list is a match politically with a cross section of America as a whole?
The overall majority of police deaths are also due to accidents and/or job related illnesses, though I agree that the risk of being shot or stabbed or beaten to death makes a difference to your mindset. But whenever people go on about how dangerous policing is, they don’t make that distinction. I don’t have stats, but one could probably also make the case that at least some of the violent deaths could be avoided if police were better at de-escalation instead of (quite often) acting in ways that make the situation more tense and dangerous.
And, no, that list doesn’t represent a cross section in any way. For one thing, those fields are largely male-dominated. As a woman who has worked a few of them, I can report that “they” try to keep it that way through harassment. (Not everyone, obviously, but enough that it takes a tough person to put up with it.)
I’m a liberal progressive btw, and agree wholeheartedly that the police force has deadly serious issues with corruption and racism. I’m disheartened about how dumb and unproductive the discourse has become.
Being shot is the one most common issue, but that (even combined with other violence from persons) doesn’t account for the “majority” of deaths, which is what I was getting at.
Another job-related illness has apparently been a problem for police lately, as many of them have been too cool to consistently wear masks or do social distancing.
Yeah, I’m not sure what is dumb or unproductive about the discourse. What I’ve seen so far is:
Cops aren’t qualified or trained to do a lot of things they are called on to do.
We should let qualified, trained people respond to those calls, and fund their organizations accordingly.
If cops can’t or won’t police themselves (which, they obviously won’t, this video being one of the most minor examples possible), then we as a society need to put structures in place to police them.
