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It's disingenuous to ask us to accept this data alone as a reason to disregard the risks that American police face in the course of their work. Whether their jo

by ajxs 7y ago

It's disingenuous to ask us to accept this data alone as a reason to disregard the risks that American police face in the course of their work. Whether their job is safer today than at the height of the so-called 'crack epidemic' is irrelevant to the reality of the day to day risks that they face. For starters, this data doesn't include the numbers of police non-fatally harmed in the course of their work. Even still, their risk of being fatally shot is 5x higher on average than the general citizen.

donw 7y ago
True, but I think the general idea is not that police work isn't dangerous -- it is! -- but rather, that it has become less dangerous over the decades. I don't have an opinion on that, having not looked at the data, but it is entirely plausible.
- weaksauce 7y ago
  i mean cops do have a fairly dangerous job but they also by no means the most or even comparatively that dangerous a job. if you look at the stats being a roofer is 1.5x more dangerous. being a delivery driver is about the same danger as a cop. industrial machine installer/repair/maintenance workers have a slightly higher fatality rate per 100k compared to cops. stoking the fears of the average citizen to be fearful of cops likely increases their risk of death on the job which is all this does.
  - donw 7y ago
    Sure, maybe? Haven't looked at the data myself, ergo no well-founded opinion. :)
joe_the_user 7y ago
Police work is less dangerous than many common occupations in the US but it is indeed still dangerous. The question is whether this level of danger is a sufficient to justify police tactics that severely endanger civilians such as no-knock raids - factors that make "SWATing" so dangerous for the average person. The further factor here is that the false belief that there's an armed camp ready to attack cops instantly with automatic rifles can give one the distorted impression that no-knock and related tactics will save lives. However, the reality is there are few people ready to knowingly engage the cops (since even if you win, you lose against the authorities) but there citizens who have guns ready for persons known who might be breaking into their home and so SWAT tactics can be as likely to draw fire and casualties as to avoid them in the real world. And kill innocent of course.
- ajxs 7y ago
  Here's some data here that seems to differ somewhat from what was originally posted: https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/police-officers-2014.htm https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/police-officers-2014.htm I would never be an advocate for the kind of no-knock raids the article is describing. I'm not addressing that by contesting the use of those statistics. My point is more that _any_ risk of getting shot in the line of duty changes the entire playing field. Just because it's declining doesn't mean that it's insignificant. That being said, as said before I'm not advocating for the kind of overwhelmingly violent responses that SWATting describes.

by ajxs 7y ago

donw 7y ago

True, but I think the general idea is not that police work isn't dangerous -- it is! -- but rather, that it has become less dangerous over the decades. I don't have an opinion on that, having not looked at the data, but it is entirely plausible.

weaksauce 7y ago
i mean cops do have a fairly dangerous job but they also by no means the most or even comparatively that dangerous a job. if you look at the stats being a roofer is 1.5x more dangerous. being a delivery driver is about the same danger as a cop. industrial machine installer/repair/maintenance workers have a slightly higher fatality rate per 100k compared to cops. stoking the fears of the average citizen to be fearful of cops likely increases their risk of death on the job which is all this does.
- donw 7y ago
  Sure, maybe? Haven't looked at the data myself, ergo no well-founded opinion. :)

joe_the_user 7y ago

Police work is less dangerous than many common occupations in the US but it is indeed still dangerous. The question is whether this level of danger is a sufficient to justify police tactics that severely endanger civilians such as no-knock raids - factors that make "SWATing" so dangerous for the average person. The further factor here is that the false belief that there's an armed camp ready to attack cops instantly with automatic rifles can give one the distorted impression that no-knock and related tactics will save lives. However, the reality is there are few people ready to knowingly engage the cops (since even if you win, you lose against the authorities) but there citizens who have guns ready for persons known who might be breaking into their home and so SWAT tactics can be as likely to draw fire and casualties as to avoid them in the real world. And kill innocent of course.

ajxs 7y ago
Here's some data here that seems to differ somewhat from what was originally posted: https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/police-officers-2014.htm https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/police-officers-2014.htm I would never be an advocate for the kind of no-knock raids the article is describing. I'm not addressing that by contesting the use of those statistics. My point is more that _any_ risk of getting shot in the line of duty changes the entire playing field. Just because it's declining doesn't mean that it's insignificant. That being said, as said before I'm not advocating for the kind of overwhelmingly violent responses that SWATting describes.