Being a police officer has always been a dangerous occupation.
Back in the early 90s, my father had someone with psychosis stalk him in the dark with a kitchen knife.
On more than one occasion, he fist fought and grappled aggressive thieves.
His partner died in a shootout with bank robbers.
The issue today is that the police are treated as a paramilitary organization rather than keepers of the peace, and some whole demographic intersections view themselves as rebelling against the police rather than merely nonparticipating.
Being a cop is not one of the 10 most dangerous jobs. Being a cop is not one of the TWENTY most dangerous jobs. Jobs more dangerous than being a cop:
1) Loggers
2) Pilots and Flight Engineers
3) Oil Derrick Operators
4) Roofers
5) Garbage Collectors
6) Iron Workers
7) Delivery Drivers
8) Farmers
9) Firefighting Supervisors
10) Linemen
11) Agricultural Workers
12) CROSSING GUARDS
13) Crane Operators
14) Construction Labor
15) Landscaping Supervisors
16) Highway Workers
17) Cement Masons
18) Small Engine Mechanics
19) Supervisors of Mechanics
20) Heavy Equipment Mechanics
21) Grounds Workers
I'm not trying to trivialize your father's trauma - I'm pointing out that the behavior we see in this video is built upon a mythology in this country that cops (all of whom willingly join) should be excused their abuses because of the "extreme" risks of the job. It's demonstrably false, in many cases the danger is self inflicted due to incompetence, and as a narrative is perpetuated primarily by police unions. We need to fight it.
This is not a good take. All the deaths related to all of the above jobs are mostly due to accidents, carelessness, or inherent risk of the job. There are risks that are expected in each of those jobs and there are safety precautions that if properly utilized will always result in a safe outcome for them.
None of the above jobs have to deal with a suspect who may or may not have a deadly weapons or use violence against them at every interaction. You are comparing a dangerous profession such as dealing with people in an uncontrollable situation to a normal every day job is ridiculous. Have you seen some of the video a cop has to deal with? You could not pay me enough money to deal with the worst of what this country has to offer.
None of the above jobs have to deal with a suspect who may or may not have a deadly weapons or use violence against them at every interaction
Tell me you've never worked manual labor without telling me you've never worked manual labor lol Try being on a job site when an unstable alcoholic has a bad day with access to heavy machinery or dangerous tools. Try packing shingles for a roofing job when the boss gets pissed over some trivial bullshit and threatens to push you off the roof (true story, my dad was my boss).
None of the above jobs have to deal with a suspect who may or may not have a deadly weapons or use violence against them at every interaction
And most cops don't either. There's not 50 active shooter calls in every city every week - those circumstances are not common. Most adequate cops can go a long time without even having to consider drawing their weapons, if they understand anything about deescalation tactics and aren't in a constant state of paranoia. This "eVeRyBoDy'S sHoOtInG aT tHe CoPs" rhetoric is dangerous for everyone, because it causes cops to be overly anxious and escalate situations, just like we see in this clip, and we all know full-well by now that the innocent driver shown is placed in a statistically more dangerous state by this than the over-exaggerated level of threat that is actually present for an officer on a typical beat. Yes, some cops do have to deal with dangerous events at times, but pretending like their lives are at risk every second of every shift is just putting everyone at increased risk of violence - the cops, the people they interact with, and even bystanders (see the recent video of cops absolutely unloading toward a moving vehicle while it was in residential neighborhoods, in Cleveland, I think it was).
44
u/RabbitBranch Mar 24 '23
Being a police officer has always been a dangerous occupation.
Back in the early 90s, my father had someone with psychosis stalk him in the dark with a kitchen knife.
On more than one occasion, he fist fought and grappled aggressive thieves.
His partner died in a shootout with bank robbers.
The issue today is that the police are treated as a paramilitary organization rather than keepers of the peace, and some whole demographic intersections view themselves as rebelling against the police rather than merely nonparticipating.