4 ms·

Police work is much less dangerous than many civilian jobs, yet the police are paid to assume risk. I think the balance is off, and society as a whole is suffer

by jwatte 10y ago

Police work is much less dangerous than many civilian jobs, yet the police are paid to assume risk. I think the balance is off, and society as a whole is suffering, because civilians who generally are nonviolent are much less capable of taking on that risk than the tainted police officers who are paid to do so.

ddeck 10y ago
It wasn't even in the top 10 in 2014 according to the BLS Census of Fatal Occupation Injuries[1], as summarized here: http://time.com/4326676/dangerous-jobs-america/ http://time.com/4326676/dangerous-jobs-america/ Police and sheriff's patrol officers was number 15, at 13.5 fatal occupation injuries per 100,000 and it appears that around half of these were traffic related fatalities. The top 5 are: Logging workers Fishers / fishing workers Pilots and flight engineers Roofers Refuse / recyclables collectors [1] http://www.bls.gov/iif/cfoi_revised14.htm http://www.bls.gov/iif/cfoi_revised14.htm
to3m 10y ago
Ahem... "police work is much less dangerous than many other civilian jobs".
- gaius 10y ago
  The police ARE civilians. That they imagine themselves to be a branch of the military is the very problem!
  - mc32 10y ago
    They are civilians... however, colloquially "civilian" can refer to a non-insider, someone outside the profession. A group of boxers might say "yeah, civilians wouldn't understand why we love the sport". In other words, it's not always used in the strict sense of military vs non-military.
    - gaius 10y ago
      it's not always used in the strict sense of military vs non-military When people with machine guns and armoured vehicles, etc refer to others as "civilians", I think it's clear what sense it is used in.
  - grkvlt 10y ago
    Well, is some countries (France, Spain, Italy) they have the concept of a Gendarmerie [1] which is a para-military police force. This is in contrast to, for example, the UK Constabulary, say, which is simply a policing organisation. A Gendarmerie is more disciplined, with a stricter enforcement of hierarchy and chain-of-comment. Related to this, I notice that some police forces in the US (all?) have military style titles - Lieutenant, Captain, etc. - rather than Officer or Constable. Is there a reason for this? Maybe the military-style ranks reinforce the idea in individuals that they serve a military-style role? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie#Role_and_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie#Role_and_services
erikpukinskis 10y ago
I think the kind of danger police face is scarier though, and leads to more stress. Most people aren't very afraid of getting into a car or drinking soda, even though those are probably the two most lethal things any of us will ever do. It's not scary because the way in which they harm us is abstract and seems controllable. When there is a shooting, on the other hand, everyone is terrified, and we spend days and weeks worrying about it amongst our friends and on the news. Because getting shot is very concrete, and totally out of our control. And I think danger from human beings is in itself more scary than danger from inanimate objects. Maybe because we know that deep down if a human being is trying to hurt us they'll probably succeed. We know we really can't control another human being. We rely on social graces to keep us safe and when those are gone we are in a very scary place. American police operate outside of those social graces all the time, and they never know when they'll depart them. It creates a lot of stress that "one day I may be pulled over the edge of the boat into the sea" doesn't. Incidentally, this is a justification for de-arming first responder cops. It creates the assumption for all parties that the cop will stay inside social graces, keeping everyone safer, and de-stressing a situation.

by jwatte 10y ago

ddeck 10y ago

It wasn't even in the top 10 in 2014 according to the BLS Census of Fatal Occupation Injuries[1], as summarized here: http://time.com/4326676/dangerous-jobs-america/ http://time.com/4326676/dangerous-jobs-america/ Police and sheriff's patrol officers was number 15, at 13.5 fatal occupation injuries per 100,000 and it appears that around half of these were traffic related fatalities. The top 5 are: Logging workers Fishers / fishing workers Pilots and flight engineers Roofers Refuse / recyclables collectors [1] http://www.bls.gov/iif/cfoi_revised14.htm http://www.bls.gov/iif/cfoi_revised14.htm

to3m 10y ago

Ahem... "police work is much less dangerous than many other civilian jobs".

gaius 10y ago
The police ARE civilians. That they imagine themselves to be a branch of the military is the very problem!
- mc32 10y ago
  They are civilians... however, colloquially "civilian" can refer to a non-insider, someone outside the profession. A group of boxers might say "yeah, civilians wouldn't understand why we love the sport". In other words, it's not always used in the strict sense of military vs non-military.
  - gaius 10y ago
    it's not always used in the strict sense of military vs non-military When people with machine guns and armoured vehicles, etc refer to others as "civilians", I think it's clear what sense it is used in.
- grkvlt 10y ago
  Well, is some countries (France, Spain, Italy) they have the concept of a Gendarmerie [1] which is a para-military police force. This is in contrast to, for example, the UK Constabulary, say, which is simply a policing organisation. A Gendarmerie is more disciplined, with a stricter enforcement of hierarchy and chain-of-comment. Related to this, I notice that some police forces in the US (all?) have military style titles - Lieutenant, Captain, etc. - rather than Officer or Constable. Is there a reason for this? Maybe the military-style ranks reinforce the idea in individuals that they serve a military-style role? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie#Role_and_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmerie#Role_and_services

erikpukinskis 10y ago

I think the kind of danger police face is scarier though, and leads to more stress. Most people aren't very afraid of getting into a car or drinking soda, even though those are probably the two most lethal things any of us will ever do. It's not scary because the way in which they harm us is abstract and seems controllable. When there is a shooting, on the other hand, everyone is terrified, and we spend days and weeks worrying about it amongst our friends and on the news. Because getting shot is very concrete, and totally out of our control. And I think danger from human beings is in itself more scary than danger from inanimate objects. Maybe because we know that deep down if a human being is trying to hurt us they'll probably succeed. We know we really can't control another human being. We rely on social graces to keep us safe and when those are gone we are in a very scary place. American police operate outside of those social graces all the time, and they never know when they'll depart them. It creates a lot of stress that "one day I may be pulled over the edge of the boat into the sea" doesn't. Incidentally, this is a justification for de-arming first responder cops. It creates the assumption for all parties that the cop will stay inside social graces, keeping everyone safer, and de-stressing a situation.