Instapundit.com - Just the Facts, Ma’am
The Instapundit.com -“>instapundit links to a paper written by Radley Balko on the “militarization” of police forces
“July 18, 2006
RADLEY BALKO has a paper on the militarization of police forces across America. This has been going on for over a decade, and I agree that it’s troubling.”
This does sound troubling…until you look at the statistics behind the incidents Balko notes on a map.
On “Botched Paramilitary Police Raids” you can find a map that displays the locations and links to a summary of the incidents.
At first, this looks just as bad as the claims in the article. Then I looked at the numbers:
“These 293 results represent
The state of: All
For the year: All
And the following type of incident: All”
The All years must cover back to 1985, the earliest year that can be queried.
293 incidents since 1985! Your almost twice as likely to die from “falling from or through a building or structure in any one year (557)” than that! What the heck kind of “epidemic” is that?
On the other hand, most readers have probably seen the TV tape from a few years ago of the bank robber who had body armor and a fully automatic machine gun who kept several dozen police officers pinned down, injuring several.
If I were a patron or employee of that bank, I’d have kissed the first paramilitary police officer to save my life from that paramilitary criminal.
Enough of the demagogery and scare tactics!
