I would have guessed that the number of cops per citizen ratio has increased over the years with the advent of the war on drugs and the resulting police state we now find ourselves in.
Which is why people talking about how ādangerousā being a police officer is makes me roll my eyes. Itās telling that people who drive vehicles professionally have more dangerous jobs than police officers - it shows where the real dangers of the job lie. Iām certainly willing to admit that itās also a fairly stressful job, but itās not really alone in that, either.
Presumably a police officerās chance of getting murdered while not on duty is the same as everyone elseās, including being shot by another police officer. (Even getting very specific, road-raging off-duty police officers shooting people who turn out to be other officers - oops! - is something that happens with some regularity.)
Yeah, thatās the thing - it isnāt a particularly harrowing number when compared to the death rate of other demographics (and especially if youāre counting all causes of death, as that statistic does). It only sounds bad when viewed with no context at all.
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Yeah, statistics Iāve seen that broke things down separated out 9/11, and firearms deaths (and stabbings, and being hit by cars) were still relatively rare. They also broke down traffic accidents, so pursuit-related deaths were separated from general accidents, making it clear that the most dangerous thing a cop does is get behind the wheel to drive from one place to another. (Like many other jobs that are more dangerous than being a copā¦)
Itās true, gun-shots are more survivable these days, and there donāt seem to be statistics for the number of non-fatal gunshots. But the lowered rate of police killings also corresponds with a decrease in overall crime - and an increase in the number of people killed by the police.
Non-police officers die every few seconds!
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I remember reading about military casualties during non-war times- how training accidents (and just plain regular accidents) mean that military personal die even when theyāre not doing war-type-things. Indeed, last I heard, 2 per year died from soda vending machines falling on them.
Actually, I had to have a chat with an officer in my small suburban town just the other day (for reasons not relevant here). We were in an interview room (!), and he had his vest on. I asked if he always had to wear it, and he said that as part of a federal grant, yes- they did. Except for during details, when, apparently, the risk of heat stroke was SO HIGH that they didnāt have to wear them.
So when someone says āa cop dies every 48 hours in americaā you have to keep in mind that many (most, as it turns out) of those deaths have NOTHING TO DO with violence against police officers.
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It wouldnāt be such a big deal if it were just police officers exaggerating the danger that theyāre subjected to in order to ask for more danger pay or respect for their contribution to society. The problem is that these statistics are used specifically to demonise Black Lives Matter as a violent anti-cop movement:
āItās a scary, scary time for law enforcement,ā he [Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis] said.
Lewis remarked that the overwhelming majority of Americans support law enforcement, but he said part of society hates police officers. He also charged Black Lives Matter with perpetuating violence.
āWeāve got police officers right now who are hesitating to do their jobs and hesitating to use deadly force, and when you hesitate, you die,ā he said. āThere are cemeteries across this country that are full of great cops who hesitated to pull that trigger and died.ā
On the other hand, some scared police officers will pull the trigger in an instant, Lewis said.
You see? Itās BLMās fault that black people are getting shot! In fact, the black people who died were probably part of BLMās army of cop-killers.
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[citation needed]
Not saying it has never happened, but thatās a pretty specific circumstance within an already rare event to fill cemeteries across the country. The number would also have to be compared to the number of times officers hesitate to shoot someone and nothing bad happens, in order for that claim to be meaningful.
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The data in the FBIās Law Enforcement Officers Killed & Assaulted (LEOKA) database seems to back up the claim that assaults on police are in slight decline - although injuries from assaults are slightly up (as a percentage of the total force). So while fatalities alone are not a great indicator of violence against Law Enforcement, it looks like protective measures (armor and other gear) have not skewed fatality numbers downwards in the face of increasing assaults.
If itās such a cushy, low-risk job with great benefits, why donāt you go become a cop?
You do go out and deal with violent people every day when you are a police officer, which isnāt something you sign up to do at a desk job. Sure you might end up experiencing some violence or threat in your regular life, but it is scary to go out there knowing you are engaging with people who are actively threatening people.
Hey, kids, just did a check on http://killedbypolice.net/ to see if the police were on track for killing 800 of us this year, and it turns out theyāre overachieving! Theyāre already up to 828 as of yesterday.
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The upturn began circa 1967 according to the graph. I canāt think of any single event which couldāve caused that although it is likely related to the beginning of the not yet declared War on Drugs.
Just because itās a myth does not mean it isnāt real. There are many myths about real things.
Despite a decrease in deaths of police, there are those of us who do consider organized police departments to be an occupational force to be opposed. They are, in a very real sense, an armed insurgents who are mostly unaccountable and acting to change society to their own ends - and I think they should be treated as such.
Just because civilians have been losing the fight against police does not mean that control of them is not worth fighting for.
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Reminds me of another Futurama quote I love involving the police from the episode āBender Gets Madeā, where the officers stop Bender and heās like āWhatās the problem officer, what was I doing?!ā
Officer Smitty replies, āWeāll decide what you were doing after an illegal search.ā
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