The immediately annoying "War on Cops" myth, a myth still being actively perpetuated by Fox News and related public figures (i.e. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz), has now grown into a bit of a headline news disease. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, as many as 58 percent of voters now believe that the United States is currently embroiled in this mythical war on police. Though that figure sadly points to the perceived success of an entirely fabricated narrative, actual statistics are readily available for those fond of the internet which (once again!) completely debunk this dangerous fiction:
When viewing the raw numbers compiled by the American Enterprise Institute's Mark A. Perry within the context of a more specific rate of cops being killed, the larger trend starts to emerge. As noted by the Washington Post, consistent sources show that the number of officers killed has generally decreased as the total number of officers has continued to rise:
If we look at the rate of killings of cops, the trend is more pronounced. There are two ways examine the rate of police killings. The first is to look at the rate of killings of cops per 100K cops on the street. This figure is somewhat difficult to calculate because there are widely varying estimates of how many cops are on the street. It depends on how you define “police officer,” who is doing the estimating, and various other factors. But if you use consistent sources, the number of police has generally gone up, while the number of officers killed has generally gone down.
When viewing the rate of killings of police officers within the context of overall population, another startling figure emerges: 2015 is actually shaping up to be the second safest year for police officers ever, with the abnormally safe 2013 taking the top spot:
Those 2013 statistics have actually proven themselves to be a useful tool in the increasingly ridiculous push for this "war on cops" myth, as many of its most fervent perpetuators use that year's "all-time low by a significant margin" number of police killings as the starting point for the continually refuted claim that the rate has increased dramatically in recent years. As previously reported, there is still in fact no such thing as a "war on cops."
