Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Does Police Work Involve Special Bravery, Courage, or Risk as Obama Claims?

Does Police Work Involve Special 'Bravery,' 'Courage,' or 'Risk' as the White House Claims?

http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/13/does-police-work-involve-special-bravery

It's good to excel at your job�and if that excellence involves protecting the innocent and rescuing children, so much the better. Good stuff. But if we're going to recognize individuals who have done awesome things, is it entirely necessary to lavishly spread the praise so that their entire trade is stroked as especially courageous, even when the actual facts suggest it's one job among many, done by people of varying virtue?

Well, yeah. When it comes to cops and politicians, such mass petting apparently is necessary. Like when President Obama and Vice President Biden pasted on their smiles to honor the National Organization of Police Organizations' "Top Cops" winners at the White House.

Said Biden:

And the President and I, we recognize the bravery that you display simply by putting on that shield every morning. That, all by itself, is an act of bravery. Strapping on your sidearm, kissing your husband or your wife goodbye at the door, walking out knowing -- because most of you are experienced -- knowing that you don't know with any degree of certitude what�s about to greet you. You have no idea -- except some of it may not be good.

The officers we have here today have been singled out for going above and beyond the call of duty, and we commend each and every one of them. And from my perspective, there�s no greater honor that a law enforcement officer could have than being recognized and nominated by his fellow officers -- because you all know what real courage is. You all know what kind of steel in your spine it takes to make the decisions that the men standing behind me have made.

We also know that there are thousands and thousands of more law enforcement officers out there on the job today and every day who are taking risks that are hard for ordinary people to imagine. They take risks to protect the community, protect the people they don't know, protect people they�ve never met. But they go out there and you all do it anyway, regardless of whether or not -- where they�re from, who they are, whether you know them or not.

"Bravery"? "Courage"? "Risk"? So this is the White House edition of Deadliest Catch?

That might make sense. For years, commercial fishing was the most dangerous trade in which an American could engage. In 1995, risking your life to gather fresh seafood carried a score of 21.3 on the Bureau of Labor Statistic Index of Relative Risk. Police work came in at 3.4. Driving a taxi scored at 9.5.

Even if you limit the danger to homicide, cashiers, cabbies, and "Supervisors, proprietors, sales" carried greater risks of being murdered on the job.

Have the relative dangers for police work increased since 1995?

Well...There's a change. People are now falling out of trees more often than they're falling overboard. But law enforcement still isn't in the top rank of dangerous jobs.

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, there were 100 on-the-job deaths in 2013, down from 183 in 1995 (and 280 in 1974).

Which doesn't lessen the individual bravery involved in "Storming an underground bunker to rescue a kidnapped five-year-old boy"�one of the feats honored at the White House. And it's good when work gets safer.

But, reality TV aside, lumberjacks don't draw the same kind of official praise as police officers. Nor do commercial fishermen. Or airline pilots. Or roofers.

And lumberjacks and company don't wield the same sort of power over their neighbors, not always for the sort of praiseworthy purposes touted at the White House ceremony. Law enforcement is increasingly militarized, larded with special authority, and prone to civil liberties abuses. Police are also increasingly resented by ther fellow Americans for the same, even if politicians don't quite get that lots of folks don't appreciate getting pushed around by uniformed enforcers.

Then again, maybe that's politicians like them so much�at least, so long as they know who butters their bread.

As Obama said:

And let me start by thanking Joe Biden not only for being a great Vice President -- which he is -- but also being a lifelong friend of law enforcement. (Applause.) Now, he and I have a special reason for loving law enforcement, because we have the unusual privilege of being surrounded by law enforcement every minute of every day. (Laughter.) And they also protect the people we love most in the world -- our families. So we�re incredibly grateful to them and to all the law enforcement officers who serve and protect families and communities across the nation every single day.

Too Praetorian for my taste. Better to praise the standouts�and keep a close eye on the rest.


Obama's Civilian National Security Force

Have you ever done it??

Indeed.

certainly not a job that would appeal to me. Glad someone wants to do it.

No, but I have done logging, fishing, flying, construction, and "Supervisors, proprietors, sales" that are up to nearly seven times more dangerous. I and my colleagues were not oblivious to the risks, but we did not puff our chests and propagandize them either.

Nor did Obama and Biden hold big official cheer leading events for any (very few would have wanted their cheers or to share their dais) of us. We were not, though, their Praetorian Guard protecting their power and privilege and enforcing their dictates.

Sure it does, so does being any other Man.

Gunner

Would you be willing to risk getting an STD making a prostitution arrest as officers in Hawaii are willing to do to make the community a better place? You are pathetic.

That reminds me of why gun control is not such a bad thing because everytime a new firearms safety initiative or law is announced there is always a blue wall behind the speaker.

Perspective changes when you need one very badly.

of course, the police in that posed picture, with smoking Joe Biden and the muslim, are dick weasels.

Yep, and that is very smart on their part. Get gun control laws in so people have to call when tshtf and even if someone is armed and manages to kill an intruder they have to call the police to get the dead body out of their house or stand to run afoul of the law too.

This, and enough said. It also takes patience I will never have to my dying day.

Is there a contest or something?

Same here L2S, I admire the men that possess that level of patience and resolve, it escaped me.

Gunner

Nah. He's a male badge bunny.

No, and it is important to notice that even those in the much more dangerous professions do not propagandize and trade upon the real dangers of their professions.

LEOs and their politician masters / benefactors do, however, heavily propagandize and trade upon the fallacy of the extreme danger of law enforcement. Indeed, this fallacious propaganda of the danger of law enforcement as a profession is an enabler of every abuse of citizens by LEOs and an enhancer of LEOs value as enforcers of tyranny for the would be tyrants among their politician masters / benefactors.

I believe cops have a pretty risky job.

I mean who wants to screw with dope heads, thieves and murderers for a living? (Besides lawyers and Sherp)

I sure as hell don't and would have been relieved of my duties for administering dozens of leg shots.

i think its a job that makes you deal with people in their worst situations. anger, grief, desperation, bitterness, evil. if we were talking Mayberry RFD, maybe i'd agree, but todays cops get a tip of my hat. ya they ain't perfect, and the job seems to attract a certain type of person who are on a power trip, but for the most part, i have no issue with LE. but then again, i obey the law and live a quiet, peaceful life and rarely if ever have a need to come in contact with them. i think most people who have a problem with LE, end up with a problem with LE.

I am reading this correctly that Rovering is trying to ramp up police animosity by posting pics of �bama and Biden hugging?

Classy.

The "risk assessment index" of the BLS is a simple reporting survey on occupational hazards. While deaths and injuries of commercial fisherman and cab drivers, et. al. usually gets reported, the high profile nature of a LEO gets more attention. The former do not provide for security and an orderly society but they provide a much needed service. Those who choose to injure or kill LEO's demonstrate their willingness to challenge the gatekeepers of order. Their aggressive behavior is an affront to all of us in society.

The assault of a cab driver or death of a commercial fisherman, while tragic to those around them, doesn't have the same "expression of aggression" as those perpetrated on a LEO.

The lower ranking or injuries and deaths to LEO's can be attributed to improved equipment and training. It was my goal and it continues to be for all LEO's to go home after shift.