900,000 Law Enforcement Officers in the US
146 on average die each year – Source National Law
Enforcement Memorial Fund
As of July 1st this year, this same group killed
550 people.
When you compare the stats on both of these the numbers are
truly insignificant.
Police kill some people and in a country of 200 million
people they really don’t kill that many. Additionally from a fatality standpoint police
have a 99.984% chance of not dying on the job.
I work as a Pilot and when I leave home my wife always says
“Have a safe flight” to which I say “I’ll do my best” and although it is a
risky job the chances of dying in a plane crash in the United States is one in
seven million.
Driving to the airport is another story, actually driving
anywhere, is a risky endeavor with 130 people dying each day or 47,000 people
per year dying on the roads.
This should give you a perspective on how many people the
police kill and how many police are killed. It’s along the lines of dying by
getting hit by lightning or by a shark attack.
So when I see the heartfelt blue candle post being
circulated on Facebook asking me to
support the police, I get confused. The Video of the attractive blond holding up handwritten notes while music plays in the background- about her
man, a LEO, a father, a brother, a cousin, a husband and best friend and you
want me to help make it viral because you’re a LEO wife and you want everyone everywhere
to be aware of the sacrifice he makes in his pensioned union job and how he
might not come home tonight- the figures completely belie this.
Something happened on 9/11/2001 where everyone on the
country was suddenly made very afraid, and we looked to those courageous public
servants in New York and Washington DC clearing rubble and searching for bodies
and we rightfully thought of them as hero’s.
Elsewhere around the country that heroism was transferred via osmosis or
some other method to where we’re made to believe that every police officer everywhere
is also a hero, just seconds away from an untimely death at the hands of some
nere’ do well.
But the reality is, like any profession, there are good cops
and there are bad cops. I like the police officers that work in my suburban
Connecticut town, I obey the law and they leave me alone. I hope that I never
have to use them for anything. But the reality is they are public servants,
paid by our taxes. A large percentage of them are like Andy and Barney in
Mayberry, Getting cats out of trees and
directing traffic at accident scenes and writing reports.
But there is a bunch of them who are quick on the trigger
and kill quite a few innocent people along with the bad guys. Hey, they’re
human, they make mistakes. But by and large they have a good middle class job
with retirement benefits, healthcare and vacation. Yes they have to work shitty
shifts, nights, weekend and holidays in all sorts of weather and catastrophes,
and aside from the catastrophe part SO DO I.
But showing up for work shouldn’t make you a hero, a
conscientious employee, maybe, a caring and concerned member of the community,
yes. But a hero – No.
We way over use that title. It’s like giving every kid in
the pee wee football league a trophy.
If you, your husband, brother, cousin, wife, uncle or mother
is a police officer please take no offense by this. And if you are a police
officer who has done something heroic, then you deserve to be called a hero.
But the guy sitting in the car at the airport watching planes land and driving
around the perimeter every so often and checking to see if gates are closed and
locked, I mean come on.
I am sure that someone will be offended by this, and I
really mean no disrespect by it. But I am tired of people telling me how
grateful I need to be that I have these awe inspiring protectors of the
community keeping me safe from the boogeyman I say Horsehockey. My gratitude is
the taxes I remit to help pay their salaries, benefits and equipment.
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