If you are an American, there is a yearly 0.005% chance you will kill someone. If you are an American cop, there is a yearly 0.125% chance you will kill someone. A cop is 25x more likely to kill someone than a random American is.

submitted by magnora7 from self.C_S_T

Here's the math:

16000 homicides on average per year in the US

divided by 330,000,000 Americans. Times 100 to make it a percentage: 0.005%

1004 people killed by police in 2019.

divided by 800,000 active-duty police officers in the US. Times 100 to make it a percentage: 0.125%

0.125% / 0.005% = 25x. An American cop is 25x more likely to kill an American, than a random American is likely to kill another American.

Yikes.

all 9 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–]comments 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

It doesn't surprise me that police kill more people than people who do not have to confront and handle violent behavior. Other stuff you've said about problems with policing has been more compelling to me, like the comparison to other places that are more successful in policing effectively with lower mortality rate for the criminals.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

It's a fair point, but I still found the data concerning. If there were more consequences when police abuse their power, then the rates probably wouldn't be so high.

[–]bobbobbybob 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

25x higher is not much higher. that's not even 102 difference.

How many people spend each day seeking out engagements with criminals and then tying to make said criminals stop their criminal behaviour?

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

25x is a lot higher...

[–]bobbobbybob 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

not really.

100X is getting significant, but 25 is only an order of magnitude greater. just one. given the nature of the work, that's bugger all.

Compare to the chances of being bled on between normies and nurses.

[–]bobbobbybob 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

is that all?

Given the preponderance of armed criminality in the US, I'd have thought the chance far higher. Is there a 'weapons fired' to 'death' ratio?

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Just came up with this analysis on my own, kind of eye-opening.

Funny how police from other developed countries do not have similar stats.

American police are exceptionally violent, closer to Brazil in per-capita police violence rates, than to Western Europe. I think this is a situation that can be fixed, but people have to want it to be fixed

[–]comments 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

doesn't America have demographics more similar to Brazil than to Western Europe?

[–]lmaonope333 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I once had a conversation with retired cop. He said that in his town, the cops were part of the community. After dark, the cops would sit in their car with the lights on so the kids in the town could play basketball. In large cities, cops usually dont know the communities they are policing. In small towns, theres more accountability because if a cop fucks up bad they'll be shunned from their community