In the fark thread regarding this obscene abuse of power, a commenter helpfully references this report on the most dangerous jobs in the country
Listening to all the police defenders, you'd assume cops would be at the top of the list. After all, the cop was only justified in tazing this hapless civilian due to the extreme risk involved in delivering a simple speeding ticket:
I was curious enough to check what the number actually is for police, and it turns out to be rather low, 14 per 100,000 - less than 3x the average for all jobs. Dig even deeper into the underlying data and learn that only 51% of police deaths are due to violent encounters - the other half are the result of various sorts of accidents
Keep this in mind the next time someone argues in favor of a "taser first, ask questions later" policy - farmers and fishers, truckers and taxi drivers all work far more dangerous jobs than cops. Consider whether a taxi driver should be allowed to taze a passenger for nothing more than a bad attitude or a "suspicious stance"
