Hello all, Officer J reporting in again.  I truly hope that you are enjoying the blog and can gain something from it.  The purpose of this blog is (2) two fold.  One it is to get truths and ideas out to the public and other police officers.  The other is to put my thoughts to work by speaking the truth and backing it up by the best facts I have available.  I’ve had this conversation with Officer E on numerous occasions throughout the years and would like to share with you the discussion.

In this post I would like to discuss, “unarmed” individuals being killed by the police.  From the news articles I have been reading for the last several years, police killing unarmed men, more precisely, unarmed black men is an epidemic that plagues society.  I saw an article recently that stated police killings of unarmed black men is as big of a problem as the global pandemic we are currently facing.  Another article I noticed while perusing the Internet was calling for the complete abolishment of police.  It left me completely speechless.  I simply couldn’t believe what I was reading.  Obviously the people involved in this line of thinking have never actually faced a real life problem, sitting in their social media bubble safe to spout off at the mouth, via keyboard, about real world topics they have only read about.  

I have tried to lay out my argument the best way I know how, with statistics from reputable locations.  The most up to date statistics I can find for all the areas covered in this article is 2018.  Some statistics were available for 2019 which I will share with you as well.  All the sources I used to create this post are cited so anyone who reads this article can follow the links and see the statistics I’m speaking of for themselves. 

If you have been following this blog, you know that I am a veteran police officer.  Throughout the years, this police officer has investigated numerous murders from all walks of life and for all different reasons.  I have been on numerous serious calls and several lethal force situations.  I can tell you with 100% certainty that I have never worked with an officer, nor have I ever spoken to an officer who wants to discharge his weapon while on the job.  The officers I have worked with, try every way in their power to avoid killing anyone. No officer wants to kill anyone in the performance of their official duties.  We all know it is a possibility, but hope like hell it is never a reality.   Unfortunately, sometimes it is a reality and we are left to deal with the aftermath.

The current sentiment in the media is that law enforcement officers are killing everyone they come into contact with.  We are a band of out of control rouges with badges, who scour the earth hunting innocent people and killing them without any scrutiny, consequences, or repercussions.  In reality law enforcement officers have a tremendous amount of restraint when dealing with the public.  According to an article in the Wall Street Journal police have approximately 375,000,000 interactions with the public every year.  In 2019 there were 1004 citizens killed by the police nationwide for the entire year.  Yes you read that correctly.  Out of more than 375 million interactions with the police in many extremely dangerous, tense situations, only 1000 people lost their lives.  

1000 people died at the hands of law enforcement.  Out of those I would like to offer some additional statistics.

2019 – 158 Hispanic, 235 Black, 370 White, 39 Other, 202 Unknown (1004 TOTAL)

            11 Hispanic, 14 Black, 25 White, 5 Other (55 TOTAL UNARMED [5%])

2018 – 148 Hispanic, 209 Black, 399 White, 36 Other, 204 Unknown (996 TOTAL)

    8 Hispanic, 23 Black, 25 White, 1 Other, 1 Unknown (58 TOTAL UNARMED [5%])

2017 – 179 Hispanic, 223 Black, 457 White, 44 Other, 84 Unknown (987 TOTAL)

    13 Hispanic, 22 Black, 31 White, 3 Other, 1 Unknown (70 TOTAL UNARMED [7%])

As you can see this is not a nationwide problem that the police are fatally shooting all black males they come into contact with, not even all unarmed black males they come into contact with as the media would like for you to believe.

By saying unarmed, most people automatically think that the suspect posed no threat to the officer.  I have worked several murders that were committed by the suspect using personal weapons (Personal weapons are cop talk for hands, feet, fists, legs…).  People murdered by someone who was unarmed is the (5th) fifth leading weapon used during murders in the United States.  672 people died at the hands of someone who was unarmed in 2018.  Obviously, just because the person did not have a weapon, they could still be just as dangerous and kill just as easily.  In an officer’s standpoint, during a serious fight, if the suspect is gaining the upper hand in the fight it can turn to a lethal force situation very quickly.  What if the suspect knocks the officer out and takes his or her weapon?  Now, what if the suspect shoots that officer and flees with a weapon and extra magazines? The suspect has already shot, potentially killed an officer and taken his or her weapon.  Now the suspect is an immediate threat to the community.  Is this the person you want running through your community armed, with nothing to lose? 

An article I read from the Wall Street Journal, that I have already referenced, talked about how race was not a factor in police interactions, but crime and suspect behavior actually influenced police actions.  According to the article,  “In 2018 there were 7,407 black homicide victims. Assuming a comparable number of victims last year, those nine unarmed black victims of police shootings represent 0.1% of all African-Americans killed in 2019. By contrast, a police officer is 18½ times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer.”  It was also discussed that, “The latest in a series of studies undercutting the claim of systemic police bias was published in August 2019 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that the more frequently officers encounter violent suspects from any given racial group, the greater the chance that a member of that group will be fatally shot by a police officer. There is “no significant evidence of antiblack disparity in the likelihood of being fatally shot by police,” they concluded.” 

Being in law enforcement for as long as I have, I worked with hundreds of different officers, from all over the country, with many different agencies, and many different skill sets.  All the officers I have had the pleasure to work with are a cut above.  They dedicate their lives and sacrifice their well being for their communities.  Even giving up personal relationships with family and friends in order to serve their community the best they can.  I’ve often had this thought,

“Why does the media attack us?  Why do they hate us so bad when we give so much?”  I simply do not know the answer to those questions.  I have theories, but I’ll keep those to myself until I can back them up.

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Always watch your six and keep your brothers and sisters in blue safe.