Time to spew some non-bullshit factual information. With all the "Whatever we see on CNN is out of control" thoughts going around, it's important to be grounded in reality. The only way to do that, is to look at the data.
The purpose of this is to provide some insight into people's reactions of police using excessive force. Since many think this happens far too much, (and in my opinion any excessive force should be taken seriously and prosecuted), I've provided a shit ton of real data to give some perspective on what "out of control" really means.
My objective is not to get people to say police are NOT using excessive force sometimes, it's to put some perspective into it so people don't think this is happening left and right, because it isn't. You are so much more likely to be exposed to other crazy things in this country. You should feel safe that the police are there to serve and protect you.
With this said, I will no longer bother to respond to each unique news story where police are accused of excessive force and the thread derails into (ALL COPS ARE PIGS THEY ARE ON A KILLING SPREE, SO WE MUST KILL THEM ALL). Some of those incidents involve justified uses, some do not. I think many are avoidable, and some are criminal in nature. But what I do not think, is that this is a all-too-common thing that is now rising in the USA. The facts just don't support it.
Bottom line, UCR needs to be overhauled to address the concerns of the nation. We need the data and we need to hold ALL law enforcement agencies accountable to accurately report it...otherwise, people will not fully trust the agency that serves them.
==============================STATS================
UCR Crime statistics: Latest release is 2013
In 2013, the FBI collected assault data from 11,468 law enforcement agencies that employed 533,895 officers. These officers provided service to more than 247 million persons, or 78.2 percent of the nations population.
National Data/Trends:
-In 2013, an estimated 1,163,146 violent crimes occurred nationwide, a decrease of 4.4 percent from the 2012 estimate. There were an estimated 367.9 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013
-Aggravated assaults accounted for 62.3 percent of violent crimes reported to law enforcement in 2013. Robbery offenses accounted for 29.7 percent of violent crime offenses; rape (legacy definition) accounted for 6.9 percent; and murder accounted for 1.2 percent
-That is 13,957 violent murders reported in 2013 (For comparison, there were 127 reported US deaths in Iraq/Afghanistan operations in 2013; 35,200 people died in auto related crashes in 2013)
-9,630 of those murders involved the use of firearms
-For comparison there were only 551 murders in the UK in 2013, putting them at a murder rate of 9.8 per million people. US has a murder rate of 4.5 per 100,000...or...40.5 per million people.
Overall, violent crimes have gone down since 2009
-There were an estimated 345,031 robberies nationwide in 2013. The average dollar value of property stolen per reported robbery was $1,170
-Firearms were used in 13,012 of those reported robberies.
======================================================
Arrests made
======================================================
-Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 11,302,102 arrests in 2013. Of these arrests, 480,360 were for violent crimes, and 1,559,284 were for property crimes.
-The estimated arrest rate for the United States in 2013 was 3,690.5 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants.
-More than 73 percent (73.5) of the persons arrested in the nation during 2013 were males. They accounted for 79.9 percent of persons arrested for violent crime and 62.2 percent of persons arrested for property crime
-In 2013, 68.9 percent of all persons arrested were white, 28.3 percent were black, and the remaining 2.9 percent were of other races
=====================================================
Police Shootings
According to UCR statistics "Law enforcement agencies are askedbut not requiredto provide complete supplementary homicide data for each murder they report to the UCR Program. Information gleaned from these supplementary homicide data can be viewed in the Expanded Homicide Data section."
461 felon suspects shot by police in 2013. Police shootings have maintained a relatively constant state since 1991
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/experiments/usatoday/exp/police-shootings.svg
"Justifiable Homicides" have increased
414 in 2009
397 in 2010
404 in 2011
426 in 2012
461 in 2013
For comparison, these are the "Justifiable Homicides" numbers by private citizens who are not law enforcement
266 in 2009
285 in 2010
270 in 2011
315 in 2012
281 in 2013
================
Assaults on Officers
==================
-Law enforcement agencies reported that 49,851 officers were assaulted while performing their duties in 2013.
-Of the 49,851 officers who were assaulted in 2013, 14,565 (29.2 percent) sustained injuries. 14.6 percent of the officers who were assaulted with knives or other cutting instruments were injured. 10.9 percent of officers who were attacked with firearms were injured.
-Of all officers who were assaulted in 2013: 31.2 percent were responding to disturbance calls (family quarrels, bar fights, etc.). 16.3 percent were attempting other arrests. 12.8 percent were handling, transporting, or maintaining custody of prisoners.
===============================
USE OF FORCE DATA
===========================
-Among persons who had contact with police in 2008, an estimated 1.4% had force used or threatened against them during their most recent contact, which was not statistically different from the percentages in 2002 (1.5%) and 2005 (1.6%).
-Males were more likely than females to have force used or threatened against them during their most recent contact with police during 2008, and blacks were more likely than whites or Hispanics to experience use or threat of force.
-Of persons who had force used or threatened against them by police in 2008, an estimated 74% felt those actions were excessive. Of those individuals who had force used or threatened against them in 2008, about 50% were pushed or grabbed by police. About 19% of persons who experienced the use or threat of force by the police reported being injured during the incident.
-An estimated 84% of individuals who experienced force or the threat of force felt that the police acted improperly. Of those who experienced the use or threat of force in 2008 and felt the police acted improperly, 14% filed a complaint against the police.
===================================================================
9-1-1 Emergency Information
- 19 states participated in reporting data of total call volume, of these states, there were 173,958,226 911 calls.
--Estimated 240,000,000 9-1-1 calls are made nationwide each year
--Of those calls, around 18,122,728 known offenses were reported by 14,943 total agencies.
-- (2011 BJS Statistics) An estimated 1 in 8 U.S. residents age 16 or older, or 31.4 million persons, requested assistance from police at least once, most commonly to report a crime, suspicious activity, or neighborhood disturbance.
About 85% of persons who requested police assistance were satisfied with the police response.
No statistical differences were found between the percentage of Hispanics (86%), blacks (85%), and whites (83%) who reported a crime or neighborhood disturbance and felt the police were helpful.
About 9 in 10 persons who requested police assistance reported that they were just as likely or more likely to contact the police again for a similar problem.
=================================================================
Bottom line? Don't feed the trolls.
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4780
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr
http://www.icasualties.org/oef/
http://www.citizensreportuk.org/reports/murders-fatal-violence-uk.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/I...ted-35-200-US-traffic-deaths-reported-in-2013
http://www.911.gov/pdf/current911datacollection-072613.pdf
The purpose of this is to provide some insight into people's reactions of police using excessive force. Since many think this happens far too much, (and in my opinion any excessive force should be taken seriously and prosecuted), I've provided a shit ton of real data to give some perspective on what "out of control" really means.
My objective is not to get people to say police are NOT using excessive force sometimes, it's to put some perspective into it so people don't think this is happening left and right, because it isn't. You are so much more likely to be exposed to other crazy things in this country. You should feel safe that the police are there to serve and protect you.
With this said, I will no longer bother to respond to each unique news story where police are accused of excessive force and the thread derails into (ALL COPS ARE PIGS THEY ARE ON A KILLING SPREE, SO WE MUST KILL THEM ALL). Some of those incidents involve justified uses, some do not. I think many are avoidable, and some are criminal in nature. But what I do not think, is that this is a all-too-common thing that is now rising in the USA. The facts just don't support it.
Bottom line, UCR needs to be overhauled to address the concerns of the nation. We need the data and we need to hold ALL law enforcement agencies accountable to accurately report it...otherwise, people will not fully trust the agency that serves them.
==============================STATS================
UCR Crime statistics: Latest release is 2013
In 2013, the FBI collected assault data from 11,468 law enforcement agencies that employed 533,895 officers. These officers provided service to more than 247 million persons, or 78.2 percent of the nations population.
National Data/Trends:
-In 2013, an estimated 1,163,146 violent crimes occurred nationwide, a decrease of 4.4 percent from the 2012 estimate. There were an estimated 367.9 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013
-Aggravated assaults accounted for 62.3 percent of violent crimes reported to law enforcement in 2013. Robbery offenses accounted for 29.7 percent of violent crime offenses; rape (legacy definition) accounted for 6.9 percent; and murder accounted for 1.2 percent
-That is 13,957 violent murders reported in 2013 (For comparison, there were 127 reported US deaths in Iraq/Afghanistan operations in 2013; 35,200 people died in auto related crashes in 2013)
-9,630 of those murders involved the use of firearms
-For comparison there were only 551 murders in the UK in 2013, putting them at a murder rate of 9.8 per million people. US has a murder rate of 4.5 per 100,000...or...40.5 per million people.
Overall, violent crimes have gone down since 2009
-There were an estimated 345,031 robberies nationwide in 2013. The average dollar value of property stolen per reported robbery was $1,170
-Firearms were used in 13,012 of those reported robberies.
======================================================
Arrests made
======================================================
-Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 11,302,102 arrests in 2013. Of these arrests, 480,360 were for violent crimes, and 1,559,284 were for property crimes.
-The estimated arrest rate for the United States in 2013 was 3,690.5 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants.
-More than 73 percent (73.5) of the persons arrested in the nation during 2013 were males. They accounted for 79.9 percent of persons arrested for violent crime and 62.2 percent of persons arrested for property crime
-In 2013, 68.9 percent of all persons arrested were white, 28.3 percent were black, and the remaining 2.9 percent were of other races
=====================================================
Police Shootings
According to UCR statistics "Law enforcement agencies are askedbut not requiredto provide complete supplementary homicide data for each murder they report to the UCR Program. Information gleaned from these supplementary homicide data can be viewed in the Expanded Homicide Data section."
461 felon suspects shot by police in 2013. Police shootings have maintained a relatively constant state since 1991
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/experiments/usatoday/exp/police-shootings.svg
"Justifiable Homicides" have increased
414 in 2009
397 in 2010
404 in 2011
426 in 2012
461 in 2013
For comparison, these are the "Justifiable Homicides" numbers by private citizens who are not law enforcement
266 in 2009
285 in 2010
270 in 2011
315 in 2012
281 in 2013
================
Assaults on Officers
==================
-Law enforcement agencies reported that 49,851 officers were assaulted while performing their duties in 2013.
-Of the 49,851 officers who were assaulted in 2013, 14,565 (29.2 percent) sustained injuries. 14.6 percent of the officers who were assaulted with knives or other cutting instruments were injured. 10.9 percent of officers who were attacked with firearms were injured.
-Of all officers who were assaulted in 2013: 31.2 percent were responding to disturbance calls (family quarrels, bar fights, etc.). 16.3 percent were attempting other arrests. 12.8 percent were handling, transporting, or maintaining custody of prisoners.
===============================
USE OF FORCE DATA
===========================
-Among persons who had contact with police in 2008, an estimated 1.4% had force used or threatened against them during their most recent contact, which was not statistically different from the percentages in 2002 (1.5%) and 2005 (1.6%).
-Males were more likely than females to have force used or threatened against them during their most recent contact with police during 2008, and blacks were more likely than whites or Hispanics to experience use or threat of force.
-Of persons who had force used or threatened against them by police in 2008, an estimated 74% felt those actions were excessive. Of those individuals who had force used or threatened against them in 2008, about 50% were pushed or grabbed by police. About 19% of persons who experienced the use or threat of force by the police reported being injured during the incident.
-An estimated 84% of individuals who experienced force or the threat of force felt that the police acted improperly. Of those who experienced the use or threat of force in 2008 and felt the police acted improperly, 14% filed a complaint against the police.
===================================================================
9-1-1 Emergency Information
- 19 states participated in reporting data of total call volume, of these states, there were 173,958,226 911 calls.
--Estimated 240,000,000 9-1-1 calls are made nationwide each year
--Of those calls, around 18,122,728 known offenses were reported by 14,943 total agencies.
-- (2011 BJS Statistics) An estimated 1 in 8 U.S. residents age 16 or older, or 31.4 million persons, requested assistance from police at least once, most commonly to report a crime, suspicious activity, or neighborhood disturbance.
About 85% of persons who requested police assistance were satisfied with the police response.
No statistical differences were found between the percentage of Hispanics (86%), blacks (85%), and whites (83%) who reported a crime or neighborhood disturbance and felt the police were helpful.
About 9 in 10 persons who requested police assistance reported that they were just as likely or more likely to contact the police again for a similar problem.
=================================================================
Bottom line? Don't feed the trolls.
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4780
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr
http://www.icasualties.org/oef/
http://www.citizensreportuk.org/reports/murders-fatal-violence-uk.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/I...ted-35-200-US-traffic-deaths-reported-in-2013
http://www.911.gov/pdf/current911datacollection-072613.pdf
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