Police Brutality

You are 2725% more likely to die in the presence of police than in the presence of a regular citizen.

Calculating the relative killing ratio of police vs. citizens is a simple matter...

• • First, you need to calculate the annual rate of police killing citizens:

    • 900,000 police in the US - http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/

    • 1152 people killed by police in 2016 (1111 in 2014) - http://www.killedbypolice.net/kbp2016.html

    • 1.28E-3 = 1152 / 900,000 - Rate of citizens killed by police

  • Then you need to calculate the annual rate of citizens killing citizens:

    • 324,336,000 population of the US - https://www.census.gov/popclock/

    • 14,698 = 15,809 - 1111 Number of non-police caused homicides in the US (2014) - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm

    • 4.53E-5 = 14,698 / 324,336,000 Rate of citizens killed by citizens

  • Dividing one by the other gives the answer to how likely you are to be killed around police compared to around a regular citizen:

    • 28.25 = 1.28E-3 / 4.53E-5 Ratio of citizens killed by police to citizens killed by citizens

If that answer were 1.00, it would mean that you are just as likely to die (no more, no less) around police than around regular citizens...no more, no less. However, that number is 27.25 higher than 1.00, which means you are 27.25 times (aka 2725%) more likely to die around police than around regular citizens.

But, policing is such a dangerous occupation, right? Not really. Again, it's a simple matter to calculate:

• First, calculate the annual rate of police being killed in the line of duty:

  • 44 police murdered in the line of duty (2017) - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_law_enforcement_officers_killed_in_the_line_of_duty_in_the_United_States#2017

  • 4.88E-5 = 44 / 900,000 Rate of police killed by citizens

• Then use that value, along with the rate of citizens being killed (calcuated above) to determine the how likely police are to be killed compared with regular citizens:

  • 1.079 = 4.88E-5 / 4.53E-5 Ratio of police killed by citizens to citizens killed by citizens

If that anser were 1.00, it would mean that the policing occupation is just as likely to result in death (no more, no less) than the aggregate of all occupations. It is slightly higher, which means that policing as an occupation is 7.9% more likely to result in death than other occupations. Perhaps undesirable, but does that increased risk warrant the slaughter they've been perpetrating on civilians? I believe the answer is obvious to any rational thinker.