4 ms·

This trope about the risk of being shot by police in the US is kind of dumb. Yes police shoot about 1,000 people here a year, but on average only 50 are unarmed

by ch4s3 3y ago

This trope about the risk of being shot by police in the US is kind of dumb. Yes police shoot about 1,000 people here a year, but on average only 50 are unarmed. And among those where data is available the number where the unarmed person wasn’t attacking the officer with their bare hands boils down to basically the cases you’ve seen in the news. I can think of exactly 2 foreign nationals who have been shot while unarmed by US police. We have some real problems with policing here, but as a foreign tourist you’re more likely to die in a plane crash getting here than to be shot by the police.

Symbiote 3y ago
The point being made was that worrying about going to jail for a tweet in Europe, or being pocketed, is dumb.
- ch4s3 3y ago
  I don't think it was a good way to make the point though. And at least in the UK, they arrested, prosecuted, and convicted 567 people in 2017-2018 alone for violations of the Communications Act of 2003[1]. The convictions mostly seem to be for Tweets and Facebook messages. [1] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/127 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/127
coldtea 3y ago
>This trope about the risk of being shot by police in the US is kind of dumb. Yes police shoot about 1,000 people here a year, but on average only 50 are unarmed. This makes it even worse... Since those armed people can also shoot you. In constrast the German police kills about 10 people a year, which given the population would amount to the US police killing 45 people total (so 5% that of the US). France, the worst example, the analogy would amount to about 250 per year (so 25% that of the US). For homicides, Germany had 260 in 2026. That would amount to 1135 projected to the US population difference. France (again a worst case) has 734 per year. In US terms that would be equal to the US having 3772 per year. Adjusted for population, the US has around 5x the number of France and 16x the number of homicides Germany has. Other western european countries are much lower.
- ch4s3 3y ago
  > This makes it even worse... Since those armed people can also shoot you. In theory, but reality fewer than 10% of all homicides are committed by someone who is a stranger to the victim. Of those, about half are the result of an argument that escalates to violence. You're exceedingly unlikely to be the victim of any violence as a tourist in almost any part of the US that a European might visit.

by ch4s3 3y ago

Symbiote 3y ago

The point being made was that worrying about going to jail for a tweet in Europe, or being pocketed, is dumb.

ch4s3 3y ago
I don't think it was a good way to make the point though. And at least in the UK, they arrested, prosecuted, and convicted 567 people in 2017-2018 alone for violations of the Communications Act of 2003[1]. The convictions mostly seem to be for Tweets and Facebook messages. [1] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/127 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/section/127

coldtea 3y ago

>This trope about the risk of being shot by police in the US is kind of dumb. Yes police shoot about 1,000 people here a year, but on average only 50 are unarmed. This makes it even worse... Since those armed people can also shoot you. In constrast the German police kills about 10 people a year, which given the population would amount to the US police killing 45 people total (so 5% that of the US). France, the worst example, the analogy would amount to about 250 per year (so 25% that of the US). For homicides, Germany had 260 in 2026. That would amount to 1135 projected to the US population difference. France (again a worst case) has 734 per year. In US terms that would be equal to the US having 3772 per year. Adjusted for population, the US has around 5x the number of France and 16x the number of homicides Germany has. Other western european countries are much lower.

ch4s3 3y ago
> This makes it even worse... Since those armed people can also shoot you. In theory, but reality fewer than 10% of all homicides are committed by someone who is a stranger to the victim. Of those, about half are the result of an argument that escalates to violence. You're exceedingly unlikely to be the victim of any violence as a tourist in almost any part of the US that a European might visit.