General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumson the dangers of police work (aka, Michelle Malkin twists reality again)
Michelle Malkin:
A Cop Is Killed Every 58 Hours
AUGUST 15, 2014The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) reports that a total of 1,501 law-enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past ten years, an average of one death every 58 hours, or 150 per year. These include local and state police officers, federal officers, correctional officers, and military law-enforcement officers.
Fact: Last year, 100 law-enforcement officers were killed. On average, over the past decade, there have been 58,261 assaults against law enforcement each year, resulting in 15,658 injuries.
Reality:
USAToday: Law officer deaths in 2013 fall to lowest in 54 years
December 30, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/30/law-enforcement-deaths/4247393/The number of fatalities of U.S. law enforcement officers in 2013 is the lowest in 54 years and the number dying in firearms-related incidents is the lowest since the 1800s, according to a preliminary report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
According to the NLEOMF, 111 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty nationwide in 2013. This was the fewest for the law enforcement profession since 1959 when 110 officers died. This also represents an 8 per cent drop from 2012, when 121 officers died.
Dangerous job? Sure. Here's the number of officers who've died in public service this year http://www.odmp.org/search/year
More dangerous than mining? Not much (miners had fewer deaths, but are a much smaller population than LEOs) http://www.msha.gov/fatals/fab.htm
Or truck driving?
According to Big Brother ( http://bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm ) the most dangerous occupations include loggers, trash collectors, roofers, and farm workers. All of these workers perform work equally important to functioning and comforts of our society. Thank a logger for his service. No one wants to live in a world without chairs. Thank an aircraft pilot--he's why we can eat kiwis and ruby reds year round. Salute the steelworker whose handycraft not raises our glorious skylines, but helps society prevent urban sprawl by giving our workplaces vertical layouts.
niyad
(113,308 posts)Feral Child
(2,086 posts)"Died in the line of duty" is a subjective phrase often translated to "killed". In fact quite a number of cops die from heart attacks whilst driving around in a patrol car. Over-weight, sedentary lifestyle with occasional bouts of intense activity, that's a recipe for a heart attack. Add a poor diet loaded with fast food stops, excessive caffeine and alcohol intake, those are all aggravating factors.
Some are struck by cars whilst directing traffic, others die in high-speed collisions.
Typical Republican math + political spin by a fanatic, she's trying to justify their kills by making it sound as if "the streets" are murderous. They're becoming murderous, but only to people with low incomes and people of color, and due to murderous, panicky, perpetually enraged, trigger happy cops and racist "vigilantes" who picture themselves in the midst of a Louis L'Amour pulp novel.
She epitomizes all that has gone rancid in modern American culture.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)same source, NLEOMF
Firearms-related incidents accounted for 33 deaths, a drop of one-third over 2012 and the lowest since 1887 when 27 officers were shot to death, the NLEOMF reports.
Thirty-two officers died of other causes in 2013, including 14 who suffered heart attacks while on duty.
So, traffic-related incidents, 41%
----firearms-related, 30%
----heart attacks, 13%
----other causes, 16%
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)That puts it in perspective.
I'll have to look at the rest of the thread now, see if any of our cop apologists are singing the "Brave Boys in Blues".
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)on behalf of the state against minorities.
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)Every year, about 1680 US presidents out of every 100,000 are murdered, and the same number again die while on the job from other causes.
Logging doesn't even come close.
nolabear
(41,963 posts)I've got a sister and nephews in law enforcement (it's as awkward as you might imagine), and they're into posting officer deaths in response to the posts re black people killed by police. But they're almost always accidents of one kind or another. I appreciate their sacrifices, I do, but it's a false equivalence and done in the service of oppression.
Bucky
(54,013 posts)No one seriously tries to segment KIA construction workers' deaths between "fell off" or "something fell oh his head". They're both hazards that come with the job. Just like we'd think it barbaric to not commemorate the veterans who died from training accidents or camp fever just because they didn't die from enemy bullets.
BubbaFett
(361 posts)alcoholic cops inflict on their own families?