Misinformation on Policing
dangerous and intentional
Thursday August 29, 2024 was a bad night.
Three police officers in Dallas, TX were shot.
Officer Darron Burks, a 46-year-old rookie officer, was murdered. He left a career in teaching and coaching to do this job.
Two responding officers, Jamie Farmer and Marissa David, were also shot. Officer David was shot in the face and remains critical. Officer Farmer has been released from the hospital.
The offender (Corey Cobb-Bey) was killed in a shootout after leading an army of police officers on a high-speed pursuit.
An arrest, perp walk, trial, conviction, public shaming, and decades of misery in a prison cell is an adequate punishment.
But, for this to end with nearly immediate deadly force from the brothers and sisters of Officer Burks - somehow seems more just. If you execute a police officer - this will be your fate. As a retired cop, now speaking from the frustrating sidelines, I selfishly prefer that narrative1.
There are many local news outlets and the Dallas Police Department leadership that can tell readers how incredible Darron Burks was and I will allow them to tell that important part of this important story.
The Offender
The offender has been identified as thirty-year-old Corey Cobb-Bey. Cobb was a self-identified as a “moorish sovereign citizen”. If you don’t know what that is - consider yourself lucky. In short, these are the assholes who believe that laws and basic human decency don’t apply to them.
Aside from his radical political beliefs - in the days leading up to the murder - Cobb posted several videos on his social media accounts where he claimed that vehicles, drones, and police were "following” him. So, like in many violent acts that seem random - there appears to be a mental health component to this case.
The Parents
After many police shootings or other controversial law enforcement incidents - the local news media has a habit of tracking down the parents, family, or friends of the offender and convincing them to do an interview. Watching these interviews is a car crash that I can barely look away from.
An interview with Cobb’s father appeared on local news (watch).
One exchange struck me in particular when the father of the maniac stated, “police are killing black kids all the time, he might have gotten afraid of something like that…and I don’t know if they provoked him first.”
Justification Based on Lies
Does he really believe that police are “killing black kids all the time”?
Does that belief somehow justify a preemptive attack on a police officer?
In short - police are doing no such thing.
So, why would anyone believe such nonsense?
This is Alex Jones level conspiracy stuff.
The Data
The thing is - we know exactly how many black kids, white kids, or adults (for that matter) that police officers are “killing”.
According to the Washington Post “Fatal Force” Project - in 2023, police officers in the United Stated shot and killed 10 “black kids” (black people under the age of 18). Of those cases, 6 were armed with a gun, 1 was armed with a knife, and 1 tried to run a police officer over with a vehicle.
That is the reality. Police officers are not “killing black kids all the time”.
Birth of Bad Ideas
Cobb’s father is not the only one who holds these untrue and insane ideas.
A 2020 study by the Skeptic Research Center asked the question, “If you had to guess, how many unarmed Black men were killed by police in 2019?”
Option categories ranged from “about 10” to “more than 10,000.”
Just over 50% of people who described themselves as “very liberal” estimated that the answer was 1000 or more. With nearly 8% of those respondents estimating “more than 10,000”.
Nearly 40% of people who described themselves as “liberal” estimated that the answer was 1000 or more.
Whereas 45% of people who identified as “very conservative” estimated “about 10”
The answer - 13 “unarmed black men” were shot and killed by police officers in 20192.
How is it possible that approximately half of the people who identify as “liberal” or “very liberal” could get this so wrong?
The difference between 1000 and 13 is astounding. And it is important to ask - who benefits by people holding these objectively untrue beliefs?
More Data
There are approximately 800,000 U.S. police officers.
There are approximately 10,000,000 arrests every year.
There are over 100,000,000 annual police-citizen contacts.
And. There are only approximately 1000 fatal officer-involved-shootings every year3.
Therefore, 99.99% of arrests do not involve deadly force.
That is the truth.
And, there is a reason this is not widely reported.
Dependance on low information consumers
Those who follow the social media accounts of anti-police activists like Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump or Rev. Al Sharpton - may reasonably believe that police are in fact “killing black kids all the time”. As they only highlight the few cases that fit their dishonest narrative.
Or. They highlight cases (like Jacob Blake and Breonna Taylor) where the police use of deadly force was reasonable, but they omit relevant information in a careful effort to make police officers look violent or racist.
Final Thoughts
I wish I had the answer. But, anti-police activists are propped up by the Mainstream Media as heroes and the social media algorithms funnel them millions of followers. Whereas, honest creators like me,
, , , , and others have to fight and earn every subscriber and viewer.I wish I had the answer. But, sometimes just identifying the problem is the only possible immediate step.
Rest in peace Officer Darron Burks. We need more people like you in this job.
All police use of force must be objectively reasonable and in line with the Constitution and applicable laws.
“Unarmed” does not mean that the police shooting was illegal or unreasonable. In many of these cases the individual is armed with something other than a gun - like a bat or knife. Also, this category includes cases where an offender is trying to disarm the officer.
The vast majority of these cases (over 90%) are legal and reasonable.
My FTIs drilled into me to avoid doing anything in the car. Always tried to pull forward and get out. if I was writing reports I had my gun under my leg.
Hope they debrief it and new coppers can learn from it.
senseless tragedy. rip
Thank you for shining a light on the Dallas story (heartbreaking!) and the dishonesty that contributes to these tragedies.
And thanks for the shoutout! You're absolutely correct that some of us have to fight for every subscriber. We are most definitely outnumbered.
Keep up the great work!