Dr. Newquist alarmed me Friday with statistics that show a 16% increase in law enforcement officer fatalities so far this year over last. This increase struck me as incongruous with new statistics showing that, in 2010, violent crime in general declined at three times the average annual rate of the previous nine years. Could criminals be leaving regular folks alone and focusing their anger on The Man?
But then I remember: always check the long-term stats.
The last 110 years have seen two clear surges in law enforcement officer fatalities, from 1900 to the beginning of the Great Depression, then again through the 1960s to the end of the Nixon Administration. The downward trend since the mid-1970s may be bottoming out, but even if this year's increased rate of law officer deaths continues, we will see a 2011 total of 188 fatalities, matching the spike in 2007 but still below the 200 level seen during the two marked historical periods.
Notice also that the above numbers are straight fatalities. They do not reflect fatalities as proportions of the national population or the number of law enforcement personnel. I don't have a hitorical table on that data, but in 2009, the United States had just over 1,000,000 law enforcement officers. That's one badge for every 300 citizens... a ratio somewhat higher than the ratio in several small South Dakota towns.
A million officers enforcing the law: would any of my Tea Party readers like to reduce the size of that police state?
A journalistic colleague points out to me that the trends in on-duty deaths of law enforcement officers often correlate with the stances taken by administrators, who often act out of poltical pressure. In other words, the deaths rise when law enforcement agencies get aggressive. That does not seem to be the case, however, in the Black Hills incidents. But in Madison, Wis., the state legislature has voted not to reimburse the police department for the extra duty it employed in the protests against Gov. Walker's disenfranchisement of labor unions and workers rights to collectively bargain. Lawmakers are charging the Madison Police Department with political motives in not taking more aggressive action against demonstrators: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/capitol-report/article_01d18b3e-e078-11e0-bce2-001cc4c002e0.html?sourcetrack=moreArticle