Many occupations more dangerous than policing

 

We frequently hear police officers complain how dangerous their jobs are, using guilt as a motivator to extract support for increased pay or protection from consequences of officer misconduct. After September 11, it became almost impossible to criticize police officers' misbehavior without prefacing comments with genuflections toward officers' relative "heroism." "They risk their lives for us every day," was the common refrain.

 

And of course, in a sense, that's true. Police officers' jobs are more dangerous than most -- 12.1 officers per 100,000 die on the job annually compared with 4.3 per 100,00, which is the national average for all occupations. But many common jobs are much more dangerous than a police officer's, including groundskeepers, farmers, airline pilots, construction workers, and truck drivers.

 

Police are trained to approach potential threats with overwhelming force, and are outfitted with numerous safety technologies (vests, helmets, etc.) that make their on-the-job deaths much less likely than for, say, lumberjacks. Multiple officers provide backup frequently even for routine traffic stops. And harsh punishment of copkillers -- both ill treatment while in official hands and the threat of capital punishment -- creates dramatic incentives even for the worst bad guys to avoid killing a peace officer. Indeed, a great many police deaths involve traffic accidents or friendly fire.

 

Here's a list compiled from federal sources concerning the relative danger of several jobs with higher-than-average fatality rates:

 

Occupations more dangerous than being a police officer

Number of deaths per 100,000 employed

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics,

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2000

 

 

Timber cutting                                     122.1

Fishermen                                          108.3

Airplane pilots                                   100.8

Farmers                                                33.0

Miners                                                   30.0

Construction laborers                          28.3

Truck drivers                                         27.6

Groundskeepers                                  14.9

Laborers (non-construction)                13.2

Ranchers                                                13.0

Bus drivers                                             12.9

Police and detectives                           12.1

National average:                                   4.3

 

 

 

Data taken from BLS press release on the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries at http://stats.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfnr0008.pdf, and the Census-derived table at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.t04.htm.