The “War on Cops” That Wasn’t. And Still Isn’t.

[Anti Federalist]

Two important blog entries from Balko over at The Agitator.

This one is the first.


The “War on Cops” That Wasn’t. And Still Isn’t.

Saturday, April 7th, 2012

http://www.theagitator.com/2012/04/07/the-war-on-cops-that-wasnt-and-still-isnt/

You might remember that about this time last year, media outlets, police groups, even Attorney General Eric Holder were up in arms over an alleged “war on cops” taking place all across the fruited plains. In April of last year, on-the-job officer deaths were up 20 percent from the same point in 2010. The media went nuts, pointing an accusatory finger at anti-government rhetoric, a “don’t tread on me” mentality, anti-cop Internet sites, and gun ownership.

But some wise folks (ahem) didn’t buy into the hype. On-the-job cop deaths had been falling for 20 years. Those numbers couldn’t keep dropping forever. And the claims of some sort of surge in violent anti-cop, anti-government anger were belied by the fact that non-fatal assaults on police officers were also dropping.

In retrospect, those of us who were skeptical of the hysterical headlines look to have been correct. While January and February of last year saw a few unusual mass shootings of multiple police officers, those months appear to have been anomalies. Police deaths in the remaining months of 2011 were mostly on par with prior years.

So what about this year? Police officer deaths are down 48 percent from last year. Firearms deaths specifically are down 58 percent. And as the watchdog blog Clark County Criminal Cops points out, a significant number of the firearms deaths were actually cops who were shot by other cops.

The police watchdog websites are still out there. The Tea Party and “Don’t Tread on Me” patriot movements are still going strong. You also now have the Occupy movements, which foment a lot of anti-police sentiment (in many cases, justifiably). Gun owners certainly haven’t been melting down their weapons en masse. And yet officer fatalities and violence against police officers have nosedived. In fact, if the current pace keeps up, we’ll actually hit an all-time low in police fatalities this year. And these are just the raw numbers. They aren’t percentages of the total police force (which has been growing), or police deaths in comparison to deaths in the larger population.

All worth keeping in mind should the numbers slightly tick up again—as any statistics pulled from a large population of people are bound to do from time to time—and the media and police groups again start placing blame, and calling for us to grant the police more powers, less oversight, and bigger guns.

[DamianTV]

There exists more than One Truth in the Universe. The Actual Truth, and the Perceived Truth.

In the movie The Matrix, the Spoon did not exist. Do not try to bend the Statistics of Police Officer Deaths with your mind. Instead, try to realize the Truth. The truth is that the Statistics are being presented to you in such a way that your Perception of the Truth is very different than the Actual Truth. Then you will see it is not the Statistics that bend, it is you.

More people die every day than ever before in any time in recorded history. Yet we have become less violent, more civilized, we have advanced our medical techology to be able to save not only human lives but the quality of lives. We protect each other. We have cops that sometimes prevent baby rapers from killing babies. We can bring Drowning Victims back from Death. We can resussitate a person after their Hearts have stopped Beating in their Chests. So how can the first statement of the paragraph possibly be true? Its simple. There are more PEOPLE on the planet than ever before, thus, you will have more deaths. We have more Cops than ever before, thus, we have more Police Deaths, even if the number of Police Officers getting killed on the job continues to decline.

Be aware of your Perspective. Be aware of the way that Statistical Facts are being Presented. Many of them have the intent of influencing your Percieved Truth to be very different than the Actual Truth. And you will realize it is not the Spoon that bends, it is you.

[Anti Federalist]

Failure bump

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?371365-Even-as-Violent-Crime-Falls-Killing-of-Officers-Rises

[Yieu]

Failure bump

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?371365-Even-as-Violent-Crime-Falls-Killing-of-Officers-Rises

The contrast is amusing.

When it comes to facts, it is best to be accurate and up to date.

[Philosophy_of_Politics]

It's basic social science. Increased volume in freedom restricting laws, and pre-crime, will increase interaction between citizens and officers. This also means, the frequency of violent altercations between citizens and officers will increase. As well as, disapproval of law enforcement/authority.

[phill4paul]

http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/

Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities
Preliminary 2012 Numbers
April 10, 2012

2012
2011 % Change
Total Fatalities 31 59 -47%
Firearms-related 11 26 -58%
Traffic-related 12 19 -37%
Other Causes 8 14 -43%

Please note: These numbers reflect total officer fatalities comparing April 10, 2012 to April 10, 2011.

[Anti Federalist]

Too bad I can't for the life of me dig up any solid number of Mundanes killed by cops during that same period.

I'm gonna go way out on a limb and say it's much more than 11 though.

:mad:



http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/

Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities
Preliminary 2012 Numbers
April 10, 2012

2012
2011 % Change
Total Fatalities 31 59 -47%
Firearms-related 11 26 -58%
Traffic-related 12 19 -37%
Other Causes 8 14 -43%

Please note: These numbers reflect total officer fatalities comparing April 10, 2012 to April 10, 2011.

[phill4paul]

Too bad I can't for the life of me dig up any solid number of Mundanes killed by cops during that same period.

I'm gonna go way out on a limb and say it's much more than 11 though.

:mad:

And you won't unless you comb through an endless morass of big city news and jerkwater tabloids. No one cares about the statistics regarding Mundanes. They are not heroes. They do not 'put there life on the line when they put their badge on.' And the taxpayers damn sure ain't gonna pay the MIC to deck us out in battle armour and
troop carriers. However, they'll be sure to do that for the blue line. All the special interests will. Too bad no one considers Mundanes to be of 'special interest.'

[Anti Federalist]

And you won't unless you comb through an endless morass of big city news and jerkwater tabloids. No one cares about the statistics regarding Mundanes. They are not heroes. They do not 'put there life on the line when they put their badge on.' And the taxpayers damn sure ain't gonna pay the MIC to deck us out in battle armour and
troop carriers. However, they'll be sure to do that for the blue line. All the special interests will. Too bad no one considers Mundanes to be of 'special interest.'

Which is what I do anyways.

And I'm pretty sure it's a whole lot more than 11.

I really hope Mrs. AF wrote Packman at Injustice Everywhere.

[TexanRudeBoy]

Does anyone know where the stats concerning citizens killed by police officers can be found and how that number is trending?

[phill4paul]

Does anyone know where the stats concerning citizens killed by police officers can be found and how that number is trending?

I have yet to find a site which tracks these statistics. Apparently these numbers are not as important as those for police officers.

[Danke]

Does anyone know where the stats concerning citizens killed by police officers can be found and how that number is trending?

Cops don't do that, duh.

[BlackTerrel]

Good article. Thanks for posting.

People have a very poor understanding of statistics.

When you're dealing with such small numbers you will always see a lot of fluctuation. It doesn't mean it's a trend.

[Anti Federalist]

Does anyone know where the stats concerning citizens killed by police officers can be found and how that number is trending?

No, that's just the point.

Even with a Congressional mandate from 2006 IIRC, there still is no real accounting of mundanes killed by cops.

You would, as Phil stated, have to sift through thousands and thousands of news articles daily to determine number of killings, were they justified or not and what happened.

It's such a daunting task that one of the few web resources http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/ out there, has it's webmaster and owner so frazzled that he's burned down after three years of running the project and giving it away.

[heavenlyboy34]

There exists more than One Truth in the Universe. The Actual Truth, and the Perceived Truth.

In the movie The Matrix, the Spoon did not exist. Do not try to bend the Statistics of Police Officer Deaths with your mind. Instead, try to realize the Truth. The truth is that the Statistics are being presented to you in such a way that your Perception of the Truth is very different than the Actual Truth. Then you will see it is not the Statistics that bend, it is you.

More people die every day than ever before in any time in recorded history. Yet we have become less violent, more civilized, we have advanced our medical techology to be able to save not only human lives but the quality of lives. We protect each other. We have cops that sometimes prevent baby rapers from killing babies. We can bring Drowning Victims back from Death. We can resussitate a person after their Hearts have stopped Beating in their Chests. So how can the first statement of the paragraph possibly be true? Its simple. There are more PEOPLE on the planet than ever before, thus, you will have more deaths. We have more Cops than ever before, thus, we have more Police Deaths, even if the number of Police Officers getting killed on the job continues to decline.

Be aware of your Perspective. Be aware of the way that Statistical Facts are being Presented. Many of them have the intent of influencing your Percieved Truth to be very different than the Actual Truth. And you will realize it is not the Spoon that bends, it is you.
Figures don't lie, but liars do figure. ;)

[TexanRudeBoy]

No, that's just the point.

Even with a Congressional mandate from 2006 IIRC, there still is no real accounting of mundanes killed by cops.

You would, as Phil stated, have to sift through thousands and thousands of news articles daily to determine number of killings, were they justified or not and what happened.

It's such a daunting task that one of the few web resources http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/ out there, has it's webmaster and owner so frazzled that he's burned down after three years of running the project and giving it away.

Damn.... thanks for the info though.

[Pericles]

Does anyone know where the stats concerning citizens killed by police officers can be found and how that number is trending?

At one point, when I was doing other research, the center for Disease Control had total firearm deaths for the year and broke it down by homicide, suicide, and law enforcement intervention. The last category would be close, but would also include cases where the citizen drew on an officer and it would be a justified shoot. IIRC, the number was somewhere around 900.

[TheTexan]

At one point, when I was doing other research, the center for Disease Control had total firearm deaths for the year and broke it down by homicide, suicide, and law enforcement intervention. The last category would be close, but would also include cases where the citizen drew on an officer and it would be a justified shoot. IIRC, the number was somewhere around 900.

If you come across that again please post it. I'm very interested in how that's trending. I may try and find that later

[John F Kennedy III]

Bump

[Pericles]

It looks like Discharge of Firearms, Undetermined Intent at 230 for 2010
Legal Intervention is a separate category, and I assume executions at 409 for 2010

Search here:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm