The Myth of the 'War On Cops'

[Straight Shooter]

With the "war on cops" narrative on the rise again, you might be wondering: When it comes to lethal ******** against police officers, how does 2015 stack up against other years? Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute took a look at the annual number of cops who died of non-accidental gunshots, as measured by the Officer Down Memorial Page. This year isn't over yet, obviously, but if the trend thus far continues, 2015's rate will be higher than 2013's. It will also be lower than every other year since 1870

The trend may look a little different if you added the cop-killings committed with other weapons—knives, cars, bombs—but probably not drastically so. (2015's total would go up by six, 2013's by eight. 1975's would grow by 17.) The pattern is just overwhelming. Even if you don't adjust for population, the police of 2013 and 2015 are on track to have fewer firearm deaths than any other years of the 20th and 21st centuries

It's a funny sort of war that produces a lower body count than there was before the war began.

Update: Radley Balko has posted a more detailed discussion of this issue at The Washington Post. Among other things, he shows that assaults on police officers have also been in decline, and he looks at what happens if you calculate a cop-******* rate based on the number of officers on the street rather than the total U.S. population. (The short version: The exact numbers depend on what estimates you use for the police population, but the trend there is also sharply downward.

https://reason.com/blog/2015/09/10/the-myth-of-the-war-on-cops

 

[Jack Davenport]

I'll let Ace deal with you...

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

I'm not even sure how to deal with that. Arguing with a point that stupid can only result in more and more stupidity until the world collapses in on itself.

 

[Straight Shooter]

I'm not even sure how to deal with that. Arguing with a point that stupid can only result in more and more stupidity until the world collapses in on itself.

:rofl2:

Nationally, police shooting deaths are down 16% this year, compared with the same period last year, according to the National *************** Officers Memorial Fund. There have been 26 firearms-related deaths this year, including two in training accidents, and 31 in 2014. Traffic accidents -- followed by shootings -- are the leading cause of police deaths.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/04/us/us-police-feel-under-siege/

 

[Supafly]

Classic strategy by Ace, reminds me of the classy ways Scott Walker etc. go when being pinned down on their Koch Brothers donors.

Just ignore facts and act like you are astonished - or even aggrevated about the sheer suggestion they could be dead wrong.

Back to the "War on Cops" narrative. A classic way of propaganda is the sheer flood of repetition. Clinical studies have proven that even points that are told to be false appear more and more correctafter they get hammered in time and time again. This is how FOX media and other propaganda outlets operate, and our own hamsters show how well this method works.

We should pity these fools.

 

[sean miguel]

I couldn't open that link on my phone, but what I didn't see in that excerpt are the motivations or the circumstances for the recent shootings of police. Of those numbers, how many police were targeted simply because they were ***************? How many were executed in cold ***** while sitting in their cars or pumping gas as opposed to being ****** in a shootout while apprehending a subject?

 

[Straight Shooter]

I couldn't open that link on my phone, but what I didn't see in that excerpt are the motivations or the circumstances for the recent shootings of police. Of those numbers, how many police were targeted simply because they were ***************? How many were executed in cold ***** while sitting in their cars or pumping gas as opposed to being ****** in a shootout while apprehending a subject?

One last point: I’ve seen some police officials and their advocates respond to these statistics by pointing out that even if assaults and killings of cops are down, anti-police rhetoric is increasing. Therefore, they say, they’re justified in proclaiming that there’s a war on the police. This is nonsense. Police agencies are government agencies. They’re government agencies in whom we entrust the power to detain, arrest, and ****. Yes, it’s true that some people are demanding more of those agencies. It’s true that personal technology is enabling people to create an independent video narrative of their interactions with police. It’s true that those videos have sometimes revealed police misconduct and *********, and that police officers, like all people, sometimes mis-remember, misstate, and outright lie when recounting contentious, traumatic, high-stakes incidents. And it’s true that because of all of this, the public as a whole today finds police officers as a whole less trustworthy than in the past. It’s also true that some activists, pundits, and politicians are demanding more accountability, transparency, and training for police.

None of these things are indicative of a “war.” On the contrary, all of this new skepticism, criticism, ****** transparency, and mistrust of the police is — again — coming even as ******** against police officers is reaching historic lows. This is how a democracy is supposed to work. It’s something worth celebrating.

Instead, police groups and their advocates are claiming that the mere act of criticizing a government entity is akin to declaring war on it, and that therefore, police critics are culpable every time a police officer is ********. (And given the way they ignore and ***** statistics, those critics are also apparently culpable for a lot of ******* that never happened.) They’re essentially saying that exercising constitutional rights and participating in democracy are in and of themselves acts of ********. And in many cases, this is coming from the very people that the government empowers to use actual ********.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...claim-otherwise-are-playing-a-dangerous-game/

 

[sean miguel]

So cops getting ******** because they're cops and in retribution for Michael Brown among others <> war

Not wanting to pay for someone else's contraceptives = war

got it.

 

[Jack Davenport]

So cops getting ******** because they're cops and in retribution for Michael Brown among others <> war

Not wanting to pay for someone else's contraceptives = war

got it.

Alright everyone! Thanks for coming out tonight. Please make your way to the side entrance as the cleaning crews are bringing in supplies through the front.

 

[xfire]

I couldn't open that link on my phone, but what I didn't see in that excerpt are the motivations or the circumstances for the recent shootings of police. Of those numbers, how many police were targeted simply because they were ***************? How many were executed in cold ***** while sitting in their cars or pumping gas as opposed to being ****** in a shootout while apprehending a subject?

So the mindset and motivation should be taken into account? Kind of like **** crimes, which I thought didn't get much traction on the conservative side.

 

[Jack Davenport]

So the mindset and motivation should be taken into account? Kind of like **** crimes, which I thought didn't get much traction on the conservative side.

They are not talking about the punishment for the crime. Just the motivation for the crime. No one on the conservative side denies people are targeted for who they are or what they represent. The argument has always been should the crime receive more severe punishment or punishment considered to be redundant.

 

[xfire]

They are not talking about the punishment for the crime. Just the motivation for the crime. No one on the conservative side denies people are targeted for who they are or what they represent. The argument has always been should the crime receive more severe punishment or punishment considered to be redundant.

Well clarified.

 

[Jack Davenport]

Gotta be on our toes with you...

 

[Jagger69]

Fringe elements of society that simply **** and want retribution at any cost are a lot smaller in number than the noise they make, especially with all the bullshit social media and partisan TV networks fueling the situation. I mean, this fucking asshole cunt Monica Foy tweets that Deputy Goforth somehow deserved to die because he had "creepy, perv eyes" and suddenly she becomes an instant *********, albeit in an extremely ignominious manner. She doesn't warrant such attention nor is she the designated spokesperson for the "Black Lives Matter" cause. She's nobody. In my opinion, to publicize and spread fear over what is clearly not some massive "war on police" movement only serves to encourage the lunatic few who actually feel that way. Fuck 'em....ignore 'em and when and if they commit such heinous acts, punish them appropriately. Let's not give them more veracity, publicity or relevance than they deserve. Neither let us fear them, for fear implies power and these aberrant social misfits possess no power. Here's a really pertinent missive that was published in yesterday's Houston Chronicle by columnist Lisa Falkenberg that puts it into perspective.

Are police being targeted? There’s more rhetoric than evidence

LISA FALKENBERG

The only thing more frightening than the idea that Deputy Darren Goforth was ****** solely because of his uniform is the suggestion that it’s part of a growing pattern.

We’ve heard it suggested from officials, pastors and cable TV personalities that there’s a war on police. In Goforth’s case, no motive has been announced. The man charged with ambushing the deputy as he pumped gas, Shannon J. Miles, has not admitted to anything, his attorney says, and records show he has a history of mental illness.

Yet in a message before 11,000 at Goforth’s recent funeral, influential Second Baptist Church Pastor Ed Young delivered his own chilling assessment of “something more insidious, and I would say deadlier and more frightening, than ever before.”

Young said that while most officers whose deaths are memorialized in Washington, D.C., died in the line of duty, “evil, now all of the sudden, in my opinion, an almost epidemic stage, takes initiative and attacks someone though they just happen to be wearing blue. I’ve never heard of something like that.”

It was a dynamic address, punctuated by applause and nodding heads.

He told the crowd of mostly *************** and their families that in Texas this year, “more officers have been ****** than any other state in the union.”

Young declared the phenomenon as “frightening and as demonic as anything we can imagine.” But, he said, “things are changing,” and recounted the simple kindnesses shown locally to police officers.

“Suddenly,” he said, “there’s a swelling of people. I’ve heard it on Bill O’Reilly, I’ve heard it from talking heads, and they say these men and women in the blue stand for that which is right, stand for that which is good, and they will deliver us from evil.”

His message was echoed in some ways this week by Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman, speaking at a news conference announcing the Pray for Police wristband campaign.

“All of us know that by the grace of God, it could be our time. It could be the guy standing next to us or behind us, simply because they wear the blue uniform and badge,” Hickman was quoted saying in the Chronicle. “It’s absolutely essential we have the community support behind us and stop this hatred that’s growing throughout our country.”

The sheriff is right that support is essential. Following Goforth’s death, we have seen an outpouring of it, from thousands attending vigils, to blue ribbons prominently displayed at businesses across town, to the blue toenail polish one of my friends sported on Facebook.

But what of the “growing” hatred the sheriff cites? What of the “epidemic” the pastor condemns?

Let’s look at the numbers. Although *************** deaths are up nationally 10 percent compared with this time last year, firearms-related fatalities are down by almost 25 percent, according to the National *************** Officers Memorial Fund, which gathers names so officers can be enshrined on the memorial that Young cited.

A spokesman for the group, Steve Groeninger, says he sees no evidence that officers are increasingly being ****** because of their jobs. The rise in fatalities, he points out, has a great deal to do with the fact that traffic-related incidents are up 26 percent compared with last year.

In the past 12 months, Groeninger has counted six officers who appear to have been slain because they worked in ***************. That includes Goforth and the two New York City officers who were shot to death in December as they sat in their patrol car.

Groeninger said he has not seen “a tangible connection” between such targeted killings and recent protests and media attention following a string of police shootings involving unarmed black men.

As for Texas having the most officer deaths, that grim statistic is true, and not surprising in the nation’s second most-populous state. But of the 10 *************** deaths that the memorial fund is aware of this year, five were crashes, two were intentionally struck by suspects trying to flee, one was ****** by a violent prison inmate and one had a heart ****** while dealing with a jail inmate, according to preliminary information.

Only Goforth may have been targeted, and even that hasn’t been confirmed.

What about assaults where the officer may not have died? I asked the FBI, and statistics were not readily available on whether targeted assaults have increased. Data do show an increase over the years in ambush-style killings of police, a troubling trend, but one that began decades ago.

As for growing hatred of police officers, that isn’t evident, either. As I’ve pointed out before, I don’t equate critical media coverage of *************** and the civil rights concerns of the Black Lives Matter group with ****.

There is harsh and vile rhetoric out there against the men and women in blue, some of it under the #blacklivesmatter hashtag, which can be used by anyone. There have been reports of anti-cop graffiti. But even as confidence in police is at its lowest since 1993, the majority of Americans express “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in police, according to a recent Gallup poll.

When something as horrific as Darren Goforth’s ********* ****** occurs, it’s human nature to look for answers, and then, to look for patterns. They aren’t always there.

Much good has come in the **** of Goforth’s tragic death. He has not died in vain.

But I don’t see any good in scaring ***************, their families and the public with claims of an epidemic of evil that doesn’t exist.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...olice-being-targeted-There-s-more-6499502.php

 

[sean miguel]

They are not talking about the punishment for the crime. Just the motivation for the crime. No one on the conservative side denies people are targeted for who they are or what they represent. The argument has always been should the crime receive more severe punishment or punishment considered to be redundant.

Exactly. The victim ****** in a robbery and their ****** are no less the aggrieved party than someone ****** because of their race, religion, etc.

 

[sean miguel]

Just curious, what is the point in the OP, if the statistics are correct and there's no upward trend in police officers ******?


Should we not be AS concerned with police officers ****** and instead focus more on what really matters, which is #black lives apparently?



You know what? Deputy Goforth is worth more than a million Michael Browns and piece-of-**** thugs like him. I'm still against abortion but if there ever was a case ... ya know, lower crime rates and what not.

 

[georges]

I am siding with Ace and you know that he is right.

 

[mongo18]

Well, shootings of police officers may be declining, but that doesn't stop Scott Walker from blaming the ones we have had on Obama!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/13/politics/scott-walker-obama-police-killings-2016/

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

Should we not be AS concerned with police officers ****** and instead focus more on what really matters, which is #black lives apparently?

It should be understood that any scumbag offender willing to take the life of a uniformed officer will do ANYTHING to

a)stay out of jail
b)continue their criminal activity

and if the people who keep anarchy at bay are not safe, how safe does that make the average citizen feel?

Scumbags specifically targeting police isn't a new thing but there is a marked increase. From the officers ambushed in Oakland a few years ago; the two officers in Las Vegas last year ******** as they were eating their lunch; the officers in Reno, also a few years back; the two officers ******** in their car in NYC last December; Deputy Goforth in TX. I could go on but the point is that there is definitely a rise in cops being shot not as they're enforcing anything but rather they're being ambushed as they're doing something as routine as refueling or eating lunch and they're not being robbed or in any other way ********.

There is a pattern emerging. And mongo, go back to fucking Australia. Dear Leader's rhetoric and actions don't jibe with someone who cares about blue lives.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Scumbags specifically targeting police isn't a new thing but there is a marked increase. From the officers ambushed in Oakland a few years ago; the two officers in Las Vegas last year ******** as they were eating their lunch; the officers in Reno, also a few years back; the two officers ******** in their car in NYC last December; Deputy Goforth in TX. I could go on but the point is that there is definitely a rise in cops being shot not as they're enforcing anything but rather they're being ambushed as they're doing something as routine as refueling or eating lunch and they're not being robbed or in any other way ********.

There is a pattern emerging. And mongo, go back to fucking Australia. Dear Leader's rhetoric and actions don't jibe with someone who cares about blue lives.

So far, 2015 is on pace to see 35 felonious killings of police officers. If that pace holds, this year would end with the second lowest number of ******** cops in decades

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...claim-otherwise-are-playing-a-dangerous-game/