It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 4:29 am




Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ] 
 Just how dangerous is police work? 
Author Message
MMT 1000 Club

Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:56 pm
Posts: 2623
Location: Minnesota
Post Just how dangerous is police work?
I was reading a CNN article that sensationally talked about "police being under siege" and mentions 24 officers being shot this year (which to me doesn't sound like a lot given the media attention). So I started googling to see how much more dangerous being a cop was than a general citizen. According to FBI, stats there are about 700,000 uniformed police so that 24 is 0.0034%. The CDC says there are 3.5 firearms homicides per 100,000 (0.0035%).

Then I found this article

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-mi ... 053727.php

"The 10 Deadliest Jobs: Deaths per 100,000

Logging workers: 128.8
Fishers and related fishing workers: 117
Aircraft pilot and flight engineers: 53.4
Roofers: 40.5
Structural iron and steel workers: 37
Refuse and recyclable material collectors: 27.1
Electrical power-line installers and repairers: 23
Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers: 22.1
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers: 21.3
Construction laborers: 17.4
Out of approximately one million police and law enforcement personnel, with 126 deaths per year, the death rate for police is 12.6 per hundred thousand.

The most dangerous job in the U.S. is being president. Eight out of 44 presidents died in office, about 18 percent. Four were assassinated, just over 9 percent.

Most policemen killed on the job die in accidents (mostly auto), not from firearm assault, according to the FBI."


I respect law enforcement, but they are hardly "under siege." It bothers me not only when the media sensationalizes stories, but also uses the wrong metric when they report facts (like when they say the "Dow dropped triple digits today!" when in fact the important metric is the percent change, not the absolute value. A triple digit drop in today's Dow is only 0.6% hardly a reason to jump out the window.....)

_________________
1754 Gator Trax Hybrid Hunt Deck with GTR35


Sun Sep 06, 2015 8:42 am
Profile
MMT Addict

Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:31 pm
Posts: 584
Location: Meraux, LA
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
People can spit statistics all day long but until you've lived behind the badge you will never understand. Sure maby only x percent die per capita but that doesn't take into account the mental stresses that are placed on officers DAILY. A foot chase with a felon coon knowing backup is 3+ minutes away. A kick to the nuts or elbow to the fuckin head on the regular. And under siege doesn't mean 9/10 police are being killed daily, its the change in times from children looking up to police officers and respecting their efforts to children now screaming fuck the police. It's the relentless facebook posts waging war against LEO's. It's the death to pigs movement and most of all its the democrats and liberals that actually act upon it and the absurdity of the nig nog president to attend the killers funeral and invite others to the white house. Watch a few 9/11 videos, specifically the part where police and fire were running into the trade centers. Listen to their voices on the radio transmissions up until the fall crushed them to death and tell me if you were in their shoes you wouldn't trade places with some catfisherman or lumberjack.

_________________
17x54 custom CC with stage 3 GTR.


Sun Sep 06, 2015 9:39 am
Profile
MMT 1000 Club
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:06 pm
Posts: 1447
Location: South central, ks
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
To me there's nothing to compare it to. My degree is in criminology and criminal justice. I had health issues in the recruiting process and rolled Into a job that paid better than an officers salary. Luck of the draw. But after sitting through classes learning the facts and being on some high intensity right alongs. There's no way to compare it to any other job. In all those statistics they don't cover how many brutal ass beatings or cheap shots that cops take. Until you've seen it or actually have been in the education and know what a year of being a cop is like you just don't understand the magnitude and danger of the job. Being snuck up on while you are searching a house and getting hit with a baseball bat and many instances like that, happen more frequent than you think, are not spoken of in these statistics you hear. Danger is a much more broad term, than just how many officers are killed per year

Pretty sure most of MMT is humusexshuls in hiding


Sun Sep 06, 2015 10:30 am
Profile
MMT 1000 Club

Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:07 pm
Posts: 4820
Location: West Monroe, LA
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
The difference between those other jobs your talking about and law enforcement, is those other professions don't involve interaction with people that intend or want to do you harm simply because of your profession, and the uncertainty of knowing who or what those people might do. Every time a policeman is killed by someone, it's because someone intended to do them harm. Those other professions don't have that. Training is the only reason policeman don't experience more deaths, but assaults aren't included in your stats, nor the people who's lives are saved due to their efforts. Considering the intent of their profession, any death at the hands of someone with no reason other than they're a cop is too many.


Sun Sep 06, 2015 10:47 am
Profile
MMT 1000 Club
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:06 pm
Posts: 1447
Location: South central, ks
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?


Sun Sep 06, 2015 10:49 am
Profile
MMT 1000 Club

Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:56 pm
Posts: 2623
Location: Minnesota
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
I'm not saying it's not a tough job or that I don't respect it. I'm just saying it's they're no more likely than the general public to be killed by a gun (if these stats are true). It's all about how the media blows things out of proportion.

_________________
1754 Gator Trax Hybrid Hunt Deck with GTR35


Sun Sep 06, 2015 2:00 pm
Profile
MMT 1000 Club

Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:56 pm
Posts: 2623
Location: Minnesota
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?

_________________
1754 Gator Trax Hybrid Hunt Deck with GTR35


Sun Sep 06, 2015 2:10 pm
Profile
MMT Pro Member

Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:02 pm
Posts: 231
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
Its only getting safer because the level of training given and required has been vastly improved, there are a large amount of tough jobs, and there are times police work is easy, but leaving your spouse and child at home not knowing what your shift might bring and whether you will see them again isnt easy.

_________________
Soon to be 16.5x48 Instagator pushed by 25 GTR


Sun Sep 06, 2015 5:44 pm
Profile
MMT Elite Member
User avatar

Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:50 pm
Posts: 9673
Location: New Iberia, La.
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
Too damn dangerous for me and not enough pay. I have to give it to the guys that do it.


Sun Sep 06, 2015 5:47 pm
Profile
MMT 1000 Club
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:22 pm
Posts: 1094
Location: El Dorado-ish, AR
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
I agree, another point is the military that if you break down their pay on a hourly basis, since they are on orders 24-7, it only comes out to less than a dollar per hour. So, I understand the strength it takes to do the job for little pay.

_________________
'13 GTR35 Stage 2 w/ EVT Exhaust, 1750 Voodoo Custom by DFOU!!


Sun Sep 06, 2015 8:27 pm
Profile
MMT Pro Member

Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2014 6:02 am
Posts: 51
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?
Been an officer for over 10 years. Your stats are correct, but there is reasoning behind them. Up until the 90's most officers did not wear body armor. The reason you see a dramatic reduction in deaths from the 80's through today is due to the fact that most if not all agencies require by policy that officers wear body armor on duty. Another point to be made is, as stated earlier, intent. The officers killed by felons were intentionally killed. Unfortunately there are even more officers killed in motor vehicle accidents. If you research, additional data will show that assaults on officers is at an all time high. I firmly believe that officers today face to fronts when they go on duty. The fight against the public and media perception, and the administration that they work for. Let me explain the latter. I would safely say that over 95 percent of the police administrations, especially the bigger agencies are concerned with one thing, and that's doing what ever it takes to save there own job and make them selves look good, and that goes as far as throwing one of their officer's under the bus even if he didn't do anything wrong, just as long as it satisfies the media. I know the officers I work with more or less chose to do nothing unless dispatched, because they don't want to be put in that position to have to use force. Like the officer in Al or MS that's weapon was taken from him by a black man and beat with it. He decided not to use force for fear of being a white officer using force against a black violent suspect and it nearly caused him his life!!!!!!
I am absolutely not taking away from the dangers of other professions. I take my hat off to the guys that cut timber and run dangerous machinery everyday. Hell even the gas station clerks go to work and face possible uncertain dangers every day. The bottom line is we live in a very sad world today. The American Way of morals and ethics are almost extinct. I get flipped off by more children while patrolling today than adults. The silent majority of honest AMERICANS need to stand up and say enough is enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thu Sep 10, 2015 6:16 am
Profile
MMT Pro Member

Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2014 2:36 pm
Posts: 442
Post Re: Just how dangerous is police work?


Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:06 am
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic   [ 12 posts ] 

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 234 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to: