An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. he number of police officers killed on duty, by year, is listed here, provided by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund: nleomf.org/.../officer-fatalities-data/year.html 2013 (the last full year of data) had the lowest number of officers killed since 1944. Prior to World War 2, the number was last under 100, was in 1910. This is concurrent with a general decrease in violent crime across the country. Nationally, were at or near historic lows in the murder rate. You have to go back to the Taft administration if you want to find a time its been safer to be an officer. (To put that in perspective, women did not yet have the vote, the Tommy gun would not be invented for another 8 years, and New Mexico was not yet a state) The recent decrease in crime started *before* police departments got all of the Pentagon hardware. Its been on a steady decline since the 1990s, with the exception of a spike in 2001. (I dont know the exact number, but Im assuming there were a bunch of officers killed in the 9/11 attacks). Arming cops to the teeth was not what brought down the murder rate, for officers or citizens. What has increased recently, are the number of flashy high-profile massacres. This is a real problem, and a scary one. In those cases, having a rapid militarized response would probably save lives. But those cases are extraordinarily rare. Its completely inappropriate for a police officer to use those sorts of tactics or equipment in their everyday business.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 03:15:13 +0000
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