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Does your definition of the West include Latin America? Because law enforcement in Latin America kill far, far more people than law enforcement in the US. In t

Does your definition of the West include Latin America? Because law enforcement in Latin America kill far, far more people than law enforcement in the US. In the US (pop 330M), law enforcement kills about 1000 people per year (about 34 people per 10M pop per year). [0] In Honduras (pop 9.1M), law enforcement kills about 40 people per 10M pop per year [1] In the Dominican Republic (pop 10.7M), law enforcement kills about 130 people per 10M pop per year [1] In Brazil (pop 210M), law enforcement kills about 275 people per 10M pop per year [1] In Jamaica (pop 2.9M), law enforcement kills about 470 people per 10M pop per year [1] In Nicaragua (pop 6.2M), law enforcement kills about 530 people per 10M pop per year [1] In El Salvador (pop 6.4M), law enforcement kills about 950 people per 10M pop per year [1] In Venezuela (pop 29M), law enforcement kills about 1830 people per 10M pop per year [1] [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforc...

mhh__ 6y ago
> Does your definition of the West include Latin America? No
- modriano 6y ago
  In that case, you're comparing the US, a country with extremely lax gun control laws and the resulting greatly increased threat to police safety, to countries with far more stringent gun control. I'm a homicide researcher in Chicago. There were over 4000 shootings and nearly 800 homicides in my city last year, and I've seen footage from a lot of them, including a lot of completely justified police shootings. Calling officers "trigger-happy thugs" ignores the reality of policing in a country where the frequency of encountering someone carrying a firearm is so high. That being said, somehow the Newark Police Department(in Newark, New Jersey's biggest city, and about 50 homicides per year) went all of 2020 without any of any officers firing a single shot (outside of training and firearm qualification contexts, I assume) [0]. [0] https://bronx.news12.com/newark-police-no-officer-fired-a-single-shot-in-2020-thanks-to-de-escalation-program https://bronx.news12.com/newark-police-no-officer-fired-a-si...
triceratops 6y ago
> Does your definition of the West include Latin America? Wikipedia's does not.[1] Also from the info you provided, it seems like US police are only 20% less violent than Honduran police. This is despite Honduras having the 5th highest murder rate in the world - which presumably means Honduran police deal with violent criminals far more often than American police.[2] That's pretty wild! 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country,_region,_or_dependent_territory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...

mhh__ 6y ago

> Does your definition of the West include Latin America? No

modriano 6y ago
In that case, you're comparing the US, a country with extremely lax gun control laws and the resulting greatly increased threat to police safety, to countries with far more stringent gun control. I'm a homicide researcher in Chicago. There were over 4000 shootings and nearly 800 homicides in my city last year, and I've seen footage from a lot of them, including a lot of completely justified police shootings. Calling officers "trigger-happy thugs" ignores the reality of policing in a country where the frequency of encountering someone carrying a firearm is so high. That being said, somehow the Newark Police Department(in Newark, New Jersey's biggest city, and about 50 homicides per year) went all of 2020 without any of any officers firing a single shot (outside of training and firearm qualification contexts, I assume) [0]. [0] https://bronx.news12.com/newark-police-no-officer-fired-a-single-shot-in-2020-thanks-to-de-escalation-program https://bronx.news12.com/newark-police-no-officer-fired-a-si...

triceratops 6y ago

> Does your definition of the West include Latin America? Wikipedia's does not.[1] Also from the info you provided, it seems like US police are only 20% less violent than Honduran police. This is despite Honduras having the 5th highest murder rate in the world - which presumably means Honduran police deal with violent criminals far more often than American police.[2] That's pretty wild! 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country,_region,_or_dependent_territory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...