Chef, I'm not really sure what you're ultimately driving at in this thread. You've pretty clearly established yourself as all but an official PR guy for the PBA (no, not Professional Bowling Assoc. - Patrolmen's Benevolent Assoc.) or some sort of cop cheerleading, mythology-propping outfit. What's odd is that that kind of boosterism just isn't needed here. Nobody's going off on cops and saying they're all bad, crooked, evil, whatever.
The point we're getting at is that the danger of being a cop isn't really as great as all the hero-worshipping might make a person think. Sure, it's a stressful job, with some very real dangers, one of those being the possibility of being killed while doing one's job. But that job is unique and it's no secret that it makes great demands. To do the job well, and with integrity takes a special person - one that I'm afraid is in short supply. And sure, it creates a lot of stress to take on that job, but ultimately, the facts suggest that it's NOT really in the top tier of dangerous jobs. That's all. There are more than a few jobs where one would have a greater chance of being injured or killed on the job.
I love how you say this:
I think you're the one who needs to realize that police officers aren't stressed out, paranoid, over-reactive time bombs.
... and then you go right into this:
Work as a police officer for ONE day and then tell me that you don't have anything to be fearful of. In fact, watch the news, read the newspaper and even look on the internet for a few minutes, do some research, educate yourself and THEN tell me that police officers don't have a huge reason to be fearful.
or "stressed out, paranoid, over-reactive time bombs"!
But how can he tell you anything, if the tv news, the newspapers, and the internet are just filled with writers only telling you what they want you to know, most of that being propaganda about police brutality and other trendy, anti-cop stuff (such as the Officer Down site you linked to) ???
What happened to all of your skepticism for the media? :dunno:
That's the "Officer Down Memorial Page". It's barely March and 21 police officers have already been killed while on the job.
Whoa - hold on there. Yeah, "killed" but notice how many of that 21 died in violent encounters? I counted 7 (gunfire and vehicular assault - although at least 1 of those vehic. assaults involved some drunk driver just coming off the road and hitting his car - see Officer Ciano - not the same as a willful assault - horrible & tragic? Yep. Heroic? No.). The rest were car accidents, heart attacks, and other miscellaneous tragedies. "Officer down!" is one of those phrases where people - sheep that they are! - have been conditioned to think of some heroic officer acting bravely "in the line of fire", but the reality is, as we can see, often far removed from that. "Officer down!!! - a tree branch hit him!" Sure, it's sad, but does a falling tree branch make someone a hero now? Examples:
"Officer Jarod Dean was struck and killed by a box truck while clearing debris from a previous accident on State Route 8"
"Officer Joshuah Broadway succumbed to injuries sustained 10
days earlier when he was involved in an automobile accident
while on duty. He was driving on Troy Highway when a vehicle
traveling in the opposite direction suddenly turned in front of
his patrol car at Virginia Loop Road."
"Officer Richard Matthews was killed in an automobile accident while responding to backup another officer. His patrol car struck a tree after he swerved to avoid a box in the roadway on Shipyard Boulevard."
"Captain Scott Bierwiler was killed when his patrol car was struck head-on by teenage driver on Powell Road, just south of Brooksville."
"Chief Larry Blagg was
killed when he was struck by a falling tree branch while assisting with cleanup efforts following a winter storm."
"Officer Chris Jones was struck and killed while conducting a traffic stop on Route 1, near the I-95 interchange. As he was returning to his patrol car, two cars collided and careened into his vehicle, which then struck him."
"Jailer Thomas Carroll suffered a fatal heart attack while participating in a CPR training exercise."
(With the scenario of Chris Jones above, I'm reminded of a recent case I saw on the news where some guy with 2 kids in his car was pulled over for some moving violation on the highway, but he opted to take an exit before coming to a stop, and then the officer actually hit his car, pulled his gun on him and whatnot - considering how many cops have been killed while standing roadside writing tickets, maybe he should've THANKED the guy!)
Now, you can look at the comparison between the two professions and see this...
Fisherman: 141.7 deaths per 100,000 employees
Law enforcement officer: 20 deaths per 100,000 employees
"The rate of death is 7 times higher for fishermen!!!"
I know that's what you're thinking right now. But, you have to realize the whole story...
(How do you "know" what he's thinking?)
Not every law enforcement officer is out on the beat dealing with serious dangers. In fact, here are law enforcement officer jobs that require almost no danger at all...
Probation officer
Parole officer
Campus security
Mall security
Night watchmen
Dispatcher
Private security (AKA - hired bouncers)
Detective
All of those positions are included in the statistics when it comes to the number of deaths that occur in the profession of being a law enforcement officer. So, the true rate (the whole story) of the number of deaths that occur when it comes to law enforcement officers looks a lot lower than what it REALLY is.
You should let the Bureau of Labor Statistics know of this flaw in their statistical breakdowns, so they can tell us what the real numbers are - which are WHAT, by the way???
Anyway, the same thing can be said for almost ANY profession. Some dude might be listed as a "fisherman" but in reality spends most of his time shuffling papers in a dockside office while his underlings are out to sea. Or the guy who works in "mining" but only goes underground once a month for some inspection or something.
That is exactly why you can't look at the statistics and honestly come up with the conclusion that everything you are looking at is an unarguable fact.
ummm.... right!
See here:
http://ocouha.com/weblog/2007/08/31/most-dangerous-jobs/
and here (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dept. of Labor):
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfnr0013.pdf
Has a listing for "Homicides". Under "Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities" in the Government section, it's 19 homicides at the state level and 30 for the local level. (Those are 2006 numbers)
Jobs that had more homicides (in absolute numbers - the %ages would be different of course, but not necessarily to make the police job look more dangerous - my hometown surely employs more police than gas station attendants) include people working at Food Service and Drinking Places (65) and Gas Stations (76).
Also, this article addresses the same thing, and has the Bureau of Labor Stats numbers, as well:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/07/pf/2006_most_dangerous_jobs/
