My apologies to all for overestimating the number of police killed on the job. Just a little research tells that over the last twenty years the average number of on the job police deaths is ONLY about 150 per year; 65,000 were assaulted per year; 23,000 injured seriously. In 2010 it was only 56 killed by FBI stats, all but one shot, but now in 2011 that number has already been surpassed as of July 1. They say things are getting meaner out there. Here in Portland a police officer was shot just six blocks from me a couple of months ago. Yes, some cops over-react and when sent into "combat" shoot first in fear of getting shot. Mistakes are made in bloody wars, and there is collateral damage---but nowhere as much as the drug gangs cause. Monday morning quarterbacks will always analyze what went wrong, comfortable at their keyboard and free from the "fog of war," and free from the immediate fear of getting their face shot off.
As for bikers, what motorcyclist has not encounterd "outlaw" biker gangs? You have never met with cranked-out meth bikers and their scags? Lucky you, you must be a teetotaler and avoid beer! I am alive today only because my Triumph was always faster than those crappy Harleys.
Knowing dopers and druggies? To my shame I used drugs for eighteen years. I was "intimately" involved with the drug trade, growing, transporting, dealing, and grubbing around in the filthy homes of my clients and friends, full of neglected and damaged children. Yes, I have seen it, to my sorrow. Fortunately I could never afford to become much of a coke-head, or it would have simply killed me. My life never actually began until I quit drugs a few decades ago, and I only survived because I never got into needles---even I was not THAT dumb. Yes, I know more about drugs than the average bear. I am VERY aware of how dangerous and destructive that whole culture is. Funny, all that anti-drug propaganda we were fed in high school---almost all of it turned out to be true. And now the police need armor plate to survive the battle, alas, because all of those harmless druggies tend to shoot at the police to protect their stash and lifestyle.......................elsullo
because of the so called collateral damage, do you think that that could be the reason for it getting meaner out there and the cops are getting shot because people fear for their lives just like the cops do? it works both ways and I think in the long run if the cops keep this ship up they will be the losers in this nasty game just because of shear numbers.