There is not, and never was, a "War on Cops"
Safer streets: New study reveals a 32% drop in the number of on-duty police officer deaths since 1970
The number police officers killed by gun has been more than cut in half, down to 52 in 2018 compared to 112 in 1970 and a peak of 145 in 1975, a new study finds
Further, researchers were able to break out deaths in which a felony was committed against an officer, finding a more than 80% decline since 1970
Researchers attribute the declines to the increased use of body armor, advances in trauma care, as well as enhanced training, better policy and better supervision
Nationwide, officer deaths were most common in California (8 to 11%), Texas (8 to 11%), Florida (4 to 7 percent), and New York (4 to 15%), researchers found
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...aths-1970.html
By VALERIE BAUMAN SOCIAL AFFAIRS REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 16:55 EDT, 11 April 2019 | UPDATED: 16:58 EDT, 11 April 2019
It's safer to be a police officer than it was 50 years ago, with a 32 percent drop in line-of-duty deaths since 1970, according to a new report.
In addition, the number officer deaths by gun has been more than cut in half, down to 52 in 2018 compared to 112 in 1970 and a peak of 145 in 1975, according to a study published this week in the journal of Criminology and Public Policy.
Further, researchers were able to break out deaths in which a felony was committed against an officer, finding a more than 80 percent decline since 1970.
'Overall, policing is a safer profession now than it was in the 1970s,' co-author Lisa Dario, of Florida Atlantic University, told DailyMail.com. 'We attribute that to the safety procedures, officer policies and other measures that contribute to safer circumstances for officers.'
In addition to Dario, researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Texas at El Paso analyzed data from the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks line-of-duty deaths.
Researchers attribute the declines in officer deaths, in part, to the increased use of body armor and advances in trauma care that also have undoubtedly saved officers' lives.
In addition, enhanced training, better policy, better supervision, and technological advances have likely played a role in the declines described in the study.
'In every given year, about 10 percent of police officers are assaulted. Regardless of how the death occurs, the consequences of officer line-of-duty deaths are tragic and multi-faceted, affecting officers' families, coworkers, the agency, the community and the entire profession,' Dario said.
Officer deaths overall were most common in California (8 to 11 percent), Texas (8 to 11 percent), Florida (4 to 7 percent), and New York (4 to 15 percent), which is proportionate to the number of officers employed in those states.
Researchers noted that there has been a growing emphasis on officer safety since the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man who was shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.
Following that incident, there were several high-profile attacks on police officers, including two shooting deaths in Brooklyn, New York in 2014, five in Dallas in 2016 and three in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2016.
As a result of those and other deaths, some researchers have concluded that there is a 'war on cops,' however the latest paper argues that is not the case, given the overall decline in all officer deaths (which includes deaths by heart attack or other non-violent causes) and officer deaths by gun or other felony.
However, the new report found there was, on average, 1.6 fewer felonious police officer deaths following the killing of Michael Brown.
'This result directly contradicts the hypothesized war on cops, in which an increase in felonious killings after August 2014 is predicted,' Dario said. 'Our results show the opposite. In the context of nearly 50-year monthly trends, our results show a statistically significant decline in felonious killings of police after Michael Brown's death.'
The only anomaly in the study was in 2001, when more than 70 officers were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Deaths resulting from vehicular assaults such as officers being struck by drunk drivers also doubled during the study period.
Deaths occurring during automobile pursuits remained stable over time (5 to 6 percent) despite policy changes adopted by departments to restrict and control pursuits.
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Originally Posted by Origanalist
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