Live data from Hacker News

Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

articles.sun-sentinel.com

1–10 of 158 posts

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#7

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.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#8

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.

Local journalists got the cops fired. How the hell such a thing exists, I'm not sure.. Probably teens or funded by a local community college.

Re: Data journalism busts speeding cops, wins Pulitzer

#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/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way, but in my mind I'm comparing 20 homicides per 100,000 citizens to to 21 people killed/maimed by a group that is orders of magnitude smaller: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Police_Department

I think this is just another reminder that Bruce Schneier is right when he says we should be more worried about car accidents than terrorism.

Post reply on HN