Crime Study shows it's safer to be a cop now than 50 years ago, despite rise in violent crime

bushman505 said:
I don’t know. Being a cop looks pretty fucking safe on the Andy Griffith show...
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Andy and Barney put their lives on the line every damn day so that the good citizens of Mayberry could enjoy that lifestyle.
 
D 1 Wrestler said:
Interesting study, they make a point to debunk the "war on cops" BS theory following Michael Brown's death.

There is no doubt that policing is a dangerous profession. But is it safer to be a cop today than it was 50 years ago? Yes, according to a study that analyzed police officer deaths (felonious and non-felonious) in the United States from 1970 to 2016. The study represents one of the most comprehensive assessments of the “dangerousness” of policing to date and provides an important historical context on the ongoing dialogue over a perceived “war on cops” in recent years.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University, Arizona State University, and the University of Texas at El Paso, found that despite increases in violent crimes, the hazards of policing has dramatically declined since 1970 with a 75 percent drop in police officer line-of-duty deaths. The study also refutes the theory of “war on cops,” following the Ferguson effect and Michael Brown’s death in August 2014, and finds no evidence to support those claims.

“On average, there were slightly more than 1.6 fewer felonious police officer deaths per month after Michael Brown’s death in August 2014 when compared with pre-August 2014,” said Lisa Dario, Ph.D., co-author and an assistant professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in FAU’s College for Design and Social Inquiry. “This result directly contradicts the hypothesized war on cops, in which an increase in felonious killings after August 2014 is predicted. 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.”

Results of the study, published in the Journal of Criminology & Public Policy , show that felonious deaths dropped by more than 80 percent. The only anomaly is 2001 when more than 70 officers were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attack. The rate of non-felonious deaths also declined by 69 percent. Furthermore, the gap between felonious and non-felonious deaths closed over time. Officer deaths peaked in 1974 at 272; in 2016 there were 134 deaths.

One factor that did not play a clear role is violent crime at the national level, which increased steadily and significantly from 1970 through the mid-1990s. At the same time, however, the number of officer deaths declined significantly.

“To put this in simple terms, if violent crime is a proxy measure of the dangerousness of the environment in which police work, it does not seem to correlate well with actual dangerousness of the profession measured as officer deaths at the national level,” said Dario.

The researchers attribute the declines in officer deaths, at least in part, by the increased use of body armor and advances in trauma care that also have undoubtedly saved officers’ lives. Moreover, enhanced training, better policy, better supervision, and technological advances have likely played a role in the declines described in this study.

For nearly 50 years, deaths varied little in terms of geography (state), time (month), and for the most part, cause of death. Most officer characteristics also remained consistent, such as sex, rank, marital and family status, duty status, and type of agency.

The researchers also found notable changes in cause of death. For felonious deaths, gunfire was the most common cause (about three quarters overall), but deaths resulting from gunfire declined over time. This is explained in part by the 9/11 terrorist attacks — both deaths occurring that day as well as those occurring later as a result of 9/11-related illness.

Deaths resulting from vehicular assaults such as officers being struck by drunk drivers also doubled during the study period. Interestingly, deaths occurring during automobile pursuits remained stable over time (5 to 6 percent) despite policy changes adopted by departments to restrict and control pursuits.

For the study, the researchers used data from the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP), which captures all officer line-of-duty deaths, except for suicides, which was not part of this study. Cause of death was felonious attacks, accidents, and other non-felonious circumstances resulting from the nature of the job like a heart attack or work-related illness.

Although 2017 deaths were not included in this study, ODMP has reported that line-of-duty deaths in 2017 were at the lowest level since 1958, which directly contradicts the war on cops’ theory.

“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,” said Dario. “Through our study findings, we can paint a clear picture of the declines in dangerousness over time, as well as the extraordinary stability in key features of officer line-of-duty deaths during the last 50 years or so.”

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.

Co-authors of the study are Michael D. White, Ph.D., senior author and a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University; and John A. Shjarback, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at El Paso.


https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/police-deaths-study.php
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Who needed a study for this? It took three universities to produce statistics I can find in 5 minutes with Google?

The ODMP tracks officer deaths in this country. It makes it pretty easy to eyeball "felonious deaths" even if it isn't perfectly precise. Assault, Gunfire (not "inadvertent" which is separately listed), Vehicular Assault. Those are the big ones. You also see rare instances like "Bomb" and "Stabbed". We were looking at assassinations and other politically motivated killings as this rhetoric seized the nation several years ago, and guys like Micah were running around Dallas gunning down cops. I see they didn't control for this (that's what we really need studies for). Fortunately, those who were working up the leftist base with that hysterical rhetoric in 2015 and 2016 were defeated, and properly stigmatized.

 
pretty sure it's safer to be a criminal also

i mean imagine police brutality on traffic stops before dashcams were a thing?
 
HunterSdVa29 said:
pretty sure it's safer to be a criminal also

i mean imagine police brutality on traffic stops before dashcams were a thing?
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That's why the Rodney King video was so shocking at the time, it was one of the few instances where it was actually caught on video.
 
58miles said:
That's why the Rodney King video was so shocking at the time, it was one of the few instances where it was actually caught on video.
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It is getting to the point you can’t smoke crack and lead police on a high speed chase without fearing a beating
 
cincymma79 said:
It is getting to the point you can’t smoke crack and lead police on a high speed chase without fearing a beating
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It's hopefully it's getting to the point where cops don't engage in police brutality because cops know they are being watched.
 
D 1 Wrestler said:
Study shows it's safer to be a cop now than 50 years ago, despite rise in violent crime.
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I don't believe it. 1969 compared to 2019? No way. Something 'fishy' about this study and the results. 1969 was the end of the Civil Rights movement and the height of the Vietnam War movement. Massive amount of violence by the police on both fronts. Never read of any 'revenge' cop killings during that period like we have today. Plus, cops got away with a lot more in 1969 compared to 2019. Nothing got on cellphone videos like today. Cops today take a lot more shit and have to restrain themselves. Not to mention (police) body cams and (public) cellphone cams. Plus, folks are a lot more aggressive to the police today than in 1969. Police recruitment is hurting in many cities across the United States. Pay does not compensate for the 'bullshit' cops have to put up with these days.
 
So... The biggest threat to a cops life is themself or another cop?

Sounds about right.
 
D 1 Wrestler said:
did you even read the article? Also who is discrediting anything? It is merely showing that while violent crime is up, officer deaths are down, while debunking the war on cops theory.

The researchers attribute the declines in officer deaths, at least in part, by the increased use of body armor and advances in trauma care that also have undoubtedly saved officers’ lives. Moreover, enhanced training, better policy, better supervision, and technological advances have likely played a role in the declines described in this study.
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Survival rate do to training and equipment don't debunked the "war on cops". The survival rate for a soldier in Irak was probably twice as high as in Vietnam do to advances in armor and medicine. Don't mean they weren't involved in a war. I would like to see that stats on violent attacks on police over all. Regardless if they where injured or not. If they have decrease or gone up.
 
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