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50 Police officers were killed in 2014

djh860djh860 Member Posts: 3,232 ✭✭✭
edited January 2015 in General Discussion
I saw this headline that 50 police officers were killed last year and told my girlfriend over morning coffee. She asked how many people did the police kill last year?
So I googled it and found that somewhere between 50 and 150 police were killed in 2014 and somewhere between 1000 and 1800 people were killed by the police. That is better than a 10-1 kill/death ratio. Does anyone out there think that the police are killing too many people or should the ratio be so high that not one officer is lost?
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    shilowarshilowar Member Posts: 38,815 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    114 Officers were killed in 2014, of those 47 by intentional gunfire. 2 assaults, 10 intentionally struck by vehicles...the rest do not to appear to be intentional deaths.


    Your question seems to imply that those that were killed by police some how didn't bring it on themselves through their actions because it is not at a similar level. Should it be even in your mind? Just to make it fair?
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    topdadtopdad Member Posts: 3,408 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Police officers are trained to win whenever an altercation cant be
    avoided. This has to be this way, or else we would have no one to
    protect and serve the citizens. I heard Tom Brokaw the other day
    saying the officer that shot Mike Brown, should have locked himself in his car until backup arrived. When we train our officers to
    react like this, we may as well fire them all and fend for ourselves.
    JMO, of course.
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    TxsTxs Member Posts: 18,801
    edited November -1
    You say you googled for these figures, so why neglect to cite any of your sources?

    It's a reasonable question after seeing how seriously inaccurate the figure in your post title is. You'd have to go back to the 1800's to find a year where only 50 were killed.
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    SGSG Member Posts: 7,548
    edited November -1
    Its probably because the criminal population outnumbers the police population.
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    ChrisStreettChrisStreett Member Posts: 3,856 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Try the job on for size one time jdh, figure the literally millions of contacts police have with the criminal element every year, the, at the least, million (out of the overall population) who fit in that category, consider the numbers of officers vs that element then come talk to me.
    It's only through training and experience that more encounters don't go sideways. Then, just for example, take a look at the recent incident in Missouri (and the aftermath) where the up and coming youngster decided to point his handgun at an officer outside a convenience store then didn't fare so well. Watch the idiots attacking the police shortly thereafter as they were maintaining the crime scene, pay attention to the restraint shown by the officers even when they are being physically attacked. That's a not uncommon daily scene where many of us have spent our careers. When you've tried that, even one time, then gone home to clean your shorts out, we can talk.
    "...dying ain't much of a living boy"-Josey Wales
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    eastbankeastbank Member Posts: 4,215
    edited November -1
    it is a very dangerous job, but not the most dangerous job by far. and the number of people killed by the police is very low when compared to the high number of crimminals. according to t. s. uncle albert,one of the i don,t give a crap crowd.
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    cce1302cce1302 Member Posts: 9,555 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Just thinking out loud...non-police citizens come in contact with these same criminals every day, too...and get murdered by them, too.

    Cops aren't the only ones out there killing and getting killed...


    Edit: only 50 police officers killed seems like a pretty big reduction from previous years. I wonder how we can reduce police on citizen shootings (besides the obvious self-defense types).
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    capguncapgun Member Posts: 1,848 ✭
    edited November -1
    Police Officers killed numbers are deceiving. A better question would be how many Police Officers had attempts made on their lives. There were many more Police Officers who had people attempt to kill them, but the Officers were only wounded because of the Officers vests or knowledge of tactics. Plus, a lot of the people trying to kill Police Officers are not very good at it, although they certainly try. Look at the LA shooting the other day where shots were fired at two LAPD Officers. The suspects picked the time, place, and used a rifle, luckily they still did not have the skill to injure the Officers. That could have been 2 more Officers killed. I have been shot at 3 times. Each time multiple shots hit my vehicle. The shooters were trying to kill me. Luckily, most of the time these attempt murderers are unskilled or the Police Officer numbers would be much higher. The bad guys certainly want to kill cops, and the cops know it.
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    ChrisStreettChrisStreett Member Posts: 3,856 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yep, I've been tagged twice (one 9mm fighting a guy over a handgun and one .357 on a barricade) and hurt more times than I'd care to count. I have to agree, roll the serious "attempts" in and the numbers would skyrocket.
    "...dying ain't much of a living boy"-Josey Wales
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    footlongfootlong Member Posts: 8,009
    edited November -1
    How many people did police ''K I L L '' last year [?]
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    eastbankeastbank Member Posts: 4,215
    edited November -1
    there was a report that the two LA officers may have rolled into a gang related shooting and were not the targets, it maybe true or not. but very dangerous never the less. with police deaths they lump all the deaths while on the job, i think gun related deaths are 30-40 percent. according to T.S. uncle albert,one of the i don,t give a crap crowd.
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    TxsTxs Member Posts: 18,801
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by footlong
    How many people did police ''K I L L '' last year [?]
    A fraction of what the OP claims.

    Still waiting to hear where he got this stuff. [:D]
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    wpagewpage Member Posts: 10,204 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A shame that anyone gets killed on the job. Going to work for the blue line should not be what it has become today...

    Respect is something sadly lacking in US society today. The golden rule of loving each other seems a remote dream.
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    ltcdotyltcdoty Member Posts: 4,172 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by topdad
    Police officers are trained to win whenever an altercation cant be
    avoided. This has to be this way, or else we would have no one to
    protect and serve the citizens. I heard Tom Brokaw the other day
    saying the officer that shot Mike Brown, should have locked himself in his car until backup arrived. When we train our officers to
    react like this, we may as well fire them all and fend for ourselves.
    JMO, of course.



    +++1
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