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You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

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Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#81

Post by sophacles »

cubano wrote: post #45

And you are five times more likely to be killed at a railroad crossing then by a police officer.[1] Headlines like these are obviously created for sensationalism , and while you will be hard pressed to find someone with a bigger animus towards the current USCJS then I, I think we should all be on the lookout for hyperbole, no matter what underlying meme it may be promoting. [1] http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol…

This isn't the same thing - in the cases of terrorist caused and police caused deaths, there were human beings who acted to intentionally kill someone else. In the case of railroad crossings, there isn't such intentionality.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#82

Post by task_queue »

ctdonath wrote: post #62

You can also significantly adjust your odds of being killed by police by choosing behavior unlikely to attract lethal force. The core issue with terrorism is you have no such choice, the terrorist making the decision to kill people doing absolutely nothing to warrant lethal force. ETA: I didn't say "make your odds 0%", I said "significantly adjust". Sure you could be shot for no reason, and a few are, but nearly all…

Tell this to the mentally ill, whose first encounter with anyone trying to get them help usually involves police with guns who have a tendency to shoot them.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#83

Post by IkmoIkmo »

DiffEq wrote: post #28
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #12

...and twice as likely to commit suicide, than be killed by anybody.

So this is the problem with statistics; these statistics apply to the average person. But there is no such thing as an average "real person". For instance MY chances of suicide are zero; and the chances of me being killed by a terrorist are far below the average person because of where I live and where I spend my time; the same goes for being killed by a police officer. This applies to MOST people for at least the "b…

> So this is the problem with statistics

That's not a problem with statistics, it's a problem with using particular statistics to talk about a non-particular group. If you'd adjusted for people who don't break the law, people like you, who get shot on accident by a police officer, the statistics would be perfectly fine to compare to the threat of you dying at the hands of police vs terrorists. There's no problem with statistics in the way you describe them, just with bad statistics just like there's a problem with bad anything (math, engineering, policy etc)

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#84

Post by xacaxulu »

steveeq1 wrote: post #65
xacaxulu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm scared of police and I'm basically a WASP. If I were black or latino, I'd be even more scared. Civil asset forfeiture, drug dogs that always indicate presence of drugs, camera/drone tracking of movements of people, illegal phone searches, militarized police departments with special forces type weapons and vehicles, etc. I'm a former US Marine and the police are basically becoming a domestic occupying military for…

And you are statistically more likely to be killed by a black man than you are by an actual policeman. I agree with chrisBob in that you shouldn't worry about the dangers of policemen in the same way you shouldnt worry about the dangers of black people, even if it's statistically "true". It's simply a bad way to look at it. There is a lot of police brutality news lately in the media so I suspect a lot of availability…

I think that's an over simplification of the issue. And I strongly disagree that I'm more likely to be killed by a black man unless that black man is wearing a badge.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#85

Post by cryoshon »

schrodinger wrote: post #67
skywhopper wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, you should be very scared of the police. They have complete power over you, your life, and your property any time you interact with them, even if you do nothing to invite the interaction. If they choose to invade your home, confiscate your cash, or shoot you dead because you didn't respond to their commands fast enough, or slow enough, or deferentially enough, you have no power to respond.

You have no power to respond on the spot, but you certainly have power to respond later through the court system.

Yeah, but you have no power to make sure that bad actors get fired and charged.

They can fuck with you. You can beat the charge, but not the ride. They will not get comeuppance for sending people on rides.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#86

Post by vezzy-fnord »

forgetsusername wrote: post #52
mgrennan wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct - More people die in hospitals then anywhere else. So should you be scared of going to the hospital?

> So should you be scared of going to the hospital? Ludicrous. Hospitals are where the sick and dying go for treatment. Police are there to Protect and Serve. Terrorists try to kill you. Why do the former do more damage than the latter? I agree that the headline is sensationalist, but if you don't think we've got a real police problem, your head is in the sand. Fortunately, the solution isn't that difficult (body cam…

Police are there to Protect and Serve.

Only the state: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-278.ZS.html

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#87

Post by tptacek »

Eight times epsilon being...

I don't think this headline means what Cato wants it to mean; as it stands, what it's saying is that you simply aren't going to be killed by a police officer.

It doesn't make more sense as a resource allocation argument either, since Cato opposes the "war on terror".

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#88

Post by dionidium »

cryoshon wrote: post #79
cubano wrote: post #45

And you are five times more likely to be killed at a railroad crossing then by a police officer.[1] Headlines like these are obviously created for sensationalism , and while you will be hard pressed to find someone with a bigger animus towards the current USCJS then I, I think we should all be on the lookout for hyperbole, no matter what underlying meme it may be promoting. [1] http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol…

It isn't hyperbole that US cops are far more violent and unstable than the cops of other developed countries. Look at how many people Germany kills per year. Now look at how many people China kills per year. Now look at the US...

Does Germany have an equivalent to South Chicago or North St. Louis? Because we've got one of those in just about every major U.S. city. It seems relevant.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#89

Post by dragonwriter »

philipkuklis wrote: post #27

"[...]one should ask why police officers are such a significant source of danger." The statements are based on data from 2011. 155 people were killed by police officers in US, total population was about 311.7 million back then. That's roughly 0,00005% and we don't even know the circumstances in which they got killed. Saying you're 8 times more likely to [insert extremely unlikely event] than [insert exceptionally unl…

> Saying you're 8 times more likely to [insert extremely unlikely event] than [insert exceptionally unlikely event] might be true but it's pure sensationalism.

Both counterterrorism and dealing with public agency violations of rights (including fatal ones by police) are within the scope of concerns addressed by the Federal government generally (and the FBI specifically). Understanding the relative danger of those threats is a reasonable part of evaluating the proper allocation of resources, and evaluating actual and proposed government policy. They are not unrelated rare threats for which the relative risk is immaterial and pure sensationalism to report or discuss.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#90

Post by cozzyd »

sophacles wrote: post #81
cubano wrote: post #45

And you are five times more likely to be killed at a railroad crossing then by a police officer.[1] Headlines like these are obviously created for sensationalism , and while you will be hard pressed to find someone with a bigger animus towards the current USCJS then I, I think we should all be on the lookout for hyperbole, no matter what underlying meme it may be promoting. [1] http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol…

This isn't the same thing - in the cases of terrorist caused and police caused deaths, there were human beings who acted to intentionally kill someone else. In the case of railroad crossings, there isn't such intentionality.

Many railroad crossing deaths are presumably suicides. Some police deaths might be, but that is probably rare.
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