Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

articles.sun-sentinel.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 158 posts

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#31

Post by austenallred »

ryanac wrote: post #27
austenallred wrote: post #17

This lends to a trend that's way to prevalent as of late: There are no checks and/or balances on the Police; the only discipline comes internally, often as a result of public outcry. Perhaps it's the bias of what you actually hear about, but it seems like the worst that can happen to a Police officer is paid leave.

"as of late"? Feels like the lack of checks and balances on the police has been going on for a while. It's only when something major happens that people take notice, like someone putting together this report, now all of a sudden it's a new trend that's way to prevalent as of late. :P

OK, I guess "as of late" means "since the Internet."

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#32

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

ndonnellan wrote: post #7
pavedwalden wrote: post #3

Wow, an officer was FIRED for speeding. That should be the headline right there. I was beginning to think it was impossible for a cop to get themselves fired.

The officer fired was the one "who sparked the project", that is, the one that was pulled over (after refusing to stop) by a state trooper, if I remember correctly. It sounds like no police officers were fired as a result of this investigation.

Maybe he was fired for drawing negative media attention.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#33

Post by ja2ke »

corwinstephen wrote: post #26
jere wrote: post #10

>The reporters found nearly 800 officers who reached speeds of 90-130 mph, many of them while off duty. The accidents caused by officers driving at high speeds had caused at least 320 crashes since 2004, killing or maiming 21 people. That's such a horrifying statistic if true. Even at their peak, homicide offending rates in the US were at around 20 per 100,000; assault rates about 10 times as high: http://bjs.gov/con…

Frustrating? Yes. Shocking? No. Did anyone really believe that taking a job as a police officer somehow suppressed these people's natural desire to drive fast? Hell, that's probably what make them join the force in the first place. Sure, it's irresponsible and illegal for off-duty officers to speed, but it's also irresponsible and illegal for regular citizens to speed, and yet that doesn't seem to stop them from doin…

I think the issue here is that off-duty police officers speed aggressively with the knowledge that, if caught, they will be almost certainly let off the hook due to their job. That makes the situation completely different than people with any other "just a job" job.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#34

Post by bobwaycott »

discountgenius wrote: post #24
jere wrote: post #10

>The reporters found nearly 800 officers who reached speeds of 90-130 mph, many of them while off duty. The accidents caused by officers driving at high speeds had caused at least 320 crashes since 2004, killing or maiming 21 people. That's such a horrifying statistic if true. Even at their peak, homicide offending rates in the US were at around 20 per 100,000; assault rates about 10 times as high: http://bjs.gov/con…

> "800 officers who reached speeds of 90-130 mph" Technically, couldn't this be 799 guys who meant to go 85 but drifted up to 90 and one jerk who went 130?

Technically, the data is there to answer this question.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#36

Post by SoftwareMaven »

jere wrote: post #10

>The reporters found nearly 800 officers who reached speeds of 90-130 mph, many of them while off duty. The accidents caused by officers driving at high speeds had caused at least 320 crashes since 2004, killing or maiming 21 people. That's such a horrifying statistic if true. Even at their peak, homicide offending rates in the US were at around 20 per 100,000; assault rates about 10 times as high: http://bjs.gov/con…

I don't think the accidents and deaths are limited to the 800 officers they identified. The set of officers speeding is certainly greater than the set of officers identified as speeding, and the accidents would probably be from the former set.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#37

Post by SoftwareMaven »

austenallred wrote: post #31
ryanac wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"as of late"? Feels like the lack of checks and balances on the police has been going on for a while. It's only when something major happens that people take notice, like someone putting together this report, now all of a sudden it's a new trend that's way to prevalent as of late. :P

OK, I guess "as of late" means "since the Internet."

If anything, I bet it has gotten better since the Internet. Pre-Internet, it would take a local news agency to ferret out problems. Now, problems can be reported by anyone and viewed by many.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#38

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

corwinstephen wrote: post #26
jere wrote: post #10

>The reporters found nearly 800 officers who reached speeds of 90-130 mph, many of them while off duty. The accidents caused by officers driving at high speeds had caused at least 320 crashes since 2004, killing or maiming 21 people. That's such a horrifying statistic if true. Even at their peak, homicide offending rates in the US were at around 20 per 100,000; assault rates about 10 times as high: http://bjs.gov/con…

Frustrating? Yes. Shocking? No. Did anyone really believe that taking a job as a police officer somehow suppressed these people's natural desire to drive fast? Hell, that's probably what make them join the force in the first place. Sure, it's irresponsible and illegal for off-duty officers to speed, but it's also irresponsible and illegal for regular citizens to speed, and yet that doesn't seem to stop them from doin…

Well then, let them stop pretending that they're looking out for our safety when they put up a speed trap. If you want to talk about having more reasonable road markings, speed limits, and fines for speeding that's great. It's a conversation that we need to have. But to have a bunch of guys driving around like jerks, on and off duty, extracting a tax from the working stiffs is an insult, and nobody should be surprised that the cops get little sympathy.

> Unless you wanna have robots do it instead

Not really. It's been shown time and again that greedy authorities will compromise on public safety to optimize profit. And, machines tend to have no discretion. Nor is any applied by the authorities. If you show up to an intersection at two am, with nobody in sight, stop, look and proceed safely through a red light, you get the same citation that some jerk gets who blows through on a busy day.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#39

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

jrockway wrote: post #11
eterm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One was. Out of 800 found. That should also be a headline.

I'm not sure you need to fire someone for driving 125mph at 4 o'clock in the morning. The punishment should fit the crime.

Have you been getting in the habit of using kilometers, perhaps? 125mph is absurdly fast.
Post reply on HN