So, Americans, this "line" that the cops put their lives on.

[baby_mouse]

The one they put their lives on to SAAAAAVE us. From dope. And loud students.

What sort of line is it? Cos we don't have one in the UK, AFAIK. Is it a thick line? What colour is it? Is it a wavy line or a jaggy line or straight line... or, what?

Is it a line of coke? From the way your guys are mucking about, it's starting to sound a lot like a line of coke. Maybe a line of speed.

Is it more like a conga line, dancing off a cliff? That's another image that leaps to mind.

No offense, please understand, ours are pretty much as bad, shooting innocent people and bursting into tears in the resultant health and safety hearings, cos it's all about THEM.

[Evergreen Emerald]

1. well police in my family...

put their lives on the line every day that they go to help a woman who is calling 911 because her abusive boyfriend is beating her and threatened to kill her because she called the cops.

My family puts their lives on the line when they are called to a bank robbery where the tellers are held hostage.

My family is putting their lives on the line when they pull over a drunk driver who may have a weapon so that you and your child can be safe from the drunk-driver.

My family puts their lives on the line when they go to the home of a little girl who is calling 911 because her daddy likes to touch her pee pee.


There are some bad police officers and those that are bad are held to a higher standard by the rest of them. But the police that I know do the best job they can and have wives, and husbands, and children who worry every day when they leave for work, that they may not come home.

[baby_mouse]

2. Yeah, but what kind of line IS IT?

Is it purple? Is it silver? is it made of little dots? Or dashes? Or is it continuous?

[Gormy Cuss]

11. It's a thin blue line.

Silly mouse.

[Quantess]

14. Is this British humour?

Seriously, being a cop is a dangerous job. Not every suspect is mild mannered and cooperative. Have you ever seen the show "Cops"?

[baby_mouse]

17. No.

I'm afraid you're wrong. Actually, police work isn't a partiularly dangerous job at all in comparison with the following:

Here are some figures from your own Government on employment related fatality in 2004.

1. Logging workers

Fatalities: 92.4 per 100,000 employed
Median Pay: $29,730

Logging and timber workers duties include cutting down trees and cutting and moving logs, providing the raw material for countless products. The nature of their work puts them at constant risk of being killed by heavy, falling objects.

2. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers

Fatalities: 92.4 per 100,000 employed
Median pay: $129,250 – but may be much lower for commercial pilots.

Although aircraft pilots and flight engineers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the nation, don't swear off air travel just yet. This category also includes commercial pilots of smaller aircrafts – including crop dusters and air taxis – that are far more likely to crash than your typical 747.

3. Fishers and related workers

Fatalities: 86.4 per 100,000 employed
Median Pay: $24,100

Fishers endure storms, fog, wind and hazardous working conditions before bringing you the fresh salmon on your dinner plate. Perilous weather puts fishers at risk of drowning if their boat capsizes or they fall overboard. And if they suffer serious injuries while at sea, help isn't readily available.

4. Structural iron and steel workers

Fatalities: 47 per 100,000 employed
Median pay: $42,430

These workers climb dozens of stories to lay the iron and steel that form buildings, bridges and other structures. Despite strapping on harnesses and other safety gear, structural iron and steel workers face a high risk of fatal injuries from falls.

5. Refuse and recyclable material collectors

Fatalities: 43.2 per 100,000 employed
Median pay: $25,760

When refuse and recyclable material collectors take away your trash, they risk traffic accidents and fatal injuries from explosions of hazardous materials. According to a University of Miami study, the leading cause of on-the-job fatalities for these workers is impatient motorists who try to pass the garbage truck and hit the driver.

6. Farmers and ranchers

Fatalities: 37.5 per 100,000 employed
Median pay: $40,440

Farmers and ranchers raise animals and plant, cultivate and harvest crops used to produce our food. However, the tractors and machinery used by these workers can be very dangerous: Non-highway vehicle accidents accounted for 40 percent of occupational fatalities for farmers and ranchers in 2004.

7. Roofers

Fatalities: 34.9 per 100,000 employed
Median pay: $30,840

When these workers climb atop your house to build or repair your roof, they risk slipping or falling from scaffolds, ladders, or roofs, or burning themselves on flammable, toxic materials.

8. Electrical power line installers and repairers

Fatalities: 30 per 100,000 employed
Median pay: $49,100

When your lights go out, line installers and repairers climb power poles and towers to get your electricity up and running. Power lines are typically high off the ground, so workers are at high risk of injury due to falls. Plus, these workers are often at risk of electrocution from contact with the high-voltage power lines.

9. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

Fatalities: 27.6 per 100,000 employed
Truck driver median pay: $33,520
Driver/sales worker median pay: $20,090

Truck drivers transport goods including cars and livestock, and driver/sales workers deliver and sell their firm’s products over established routes. Both groups spend the majority of their time on the road, putting them at high risk of highway vehicle crashes.

10. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs

Fatalities: 24.2 per 100,000 employed
Median pay: $19,570

The dangers of shuttling around patrons go far beyond highway crashes. Taxi drivers, who often work alone and carry large amounts of cash, may also find themselves victims of robbery and homicide.

So There you. America's top 10 most dangerous jobs in 2004.

Policemen aren't even on the list. They aren't on the 2007 list either, but the website I got this from had a nice breakdown of reasons, so I copied it.

[panader0]

3. Oh you Brits..........

Guess we'll have to send some cops over and save you guys again. LOL.

[VP505]

4. I have always

thought that line was overused and mostly bullshit, my guess is that a night shift clerk at a convenience store has his/her life on the line much more so than most police officers. He/she has NO backup, is normally NOT armed and has few if any option to escape harm. I say that, not to take anything away from the police but to point out that there are lots of other occupations that provide service to the public and are just as if not more dangerous.

[baby_mouse]

5. I used to be a receptionist in an ER room.

Thieves, murderers came through the doors, people who had been in fights, people who wanted a fight. I was threatened more than once. Never by cops, really, oh except that one time... No back-up. No weapons. Nothing.

You fucking BET I put my life on the line.

Pfeh.

[WillowTree]

18. "You fucking BET I put my life on the line."

And just what color was THAT line that I should effing BET you put your life on?

Police officers in this country risk their lives every day in every city and tiny hamlet. Their lives are at risk in the cleanest, wealthiest suburbs as well as in the so-called "worst neighborhoods". They run into burning buildings along side firefighters trying to save those in peril. The vast majority of them are decent, honest, hard-working Americans who volunarily took a dangerous job for not a lot of pay and take a whole lot of shit from people have no respect for the law or who paint them with a broad bursh dipped in the slime of the relatively few who don't measure up.

One would think that if you really have been in the position of "putting your very life on the line" in the course of doing a job, you wouldn't be so quick to refer with such ridicule of others who do. Your post shows a lack of consideration and/or sensitivity that is really breathtaking.

[baby_mouse]

6. Also, THESE days, WE'RE putting OUR lives on the line when dealing with COPS!!!!

Everyone's life's onnnnnnnn the liiiiine the minute a cop shows up.

[seabeyond]

13. and this post is right on. what i have been saying to my children

and any adults that will listen. today.... our lives are on the very line from the police. when being frustrated can result in a taser and death. when we are assault cause we dare to be mad. i was just telling the kids, how long before ne is tasered cause we dared to look a cop in the eye (not complying, deserved) and not looking at the ground in submission.

[zalinda]

7. The line is invisible, just like the threats

Over there you don't have a huge amount of people with guns, here you do.......stupid, huh! Cops have been killed by just pulling over a person for a traffic violation. Cops have been killed trying to help in a domestic dispute. Cops have been killed breaking up a bar/tavern fight. Cops have been killed trying to enforce a curfew. A cop here in Syracuse was killed while sitting in his cop car eating his lunch. And cops have killed themselves. The line is invisible because they never know what kind of situation they are walking into. Something that should be an easy situation can turn ugly in a moment's notice.

I've seen good cops and bad cops. Cops who couldn't be bothered and those who would go out of their way to help you. Cops are human, and that's why there are all kinds. And besides, some our best are over there in Iraq, because Bush wanted to be the war president.

zalinda

[R_M]

10. As you said, cops are like everyone else.

Good and Bad exist as well as the in between too. That is why they should not have special protection under the law.

[seabeyond]

16. they used to be, but i dont believe this line anymore for the police.

i believe in todays world, their atmosphere even the good cops are being taught a mind think that we are all animals. cops too are just human. if they walk into an environment where there is a pervasive attitude of superiority, even the best will adopt it. that is what is bother me so much today with the police. i think even the good are being taught wrong. i see the same with our soldiers. and again i pin it on the higher ups. i think bushco and pro torturing and filtering that that iraqis are animals take even the best of our soldiers over the line of corrupt and unjust. i dont pin it on the soldiers, or the cops, i pin it squarely on the higher ups who job it is to make sure this exact thing does not happen

a further example. my problem with religion today. i told my minister the greater responsibility he has because he has the souls in his hand and can manipulate and control.... what a huge responsibility and today the ministers are preaching hate and ugliness, the very opposite of christ words and how they are abusing the very souls they are responsible for.

[TorchTheWitch]

8. Why don't you ask the Cassidy family this question...

Philadelphia police officer shot in holdup dies; 3rd hit by gunfire in 4 days
By Patrick Walters, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 1, 2007

PHILADELPHIA - A police officer shot in the head during a robbery in a doughnut shop died Thursday morning, and his killer remained at large. He was the third city officer shot in the span of four days.

Chuck Cassidy, 54, was shot in the forehead Wednesday at a Dunkin' Donuts when a hooded robber spun from the counter and fired at him as he walked in the door, according to an employee.

The 25-year police veteran died at Albert Einstein Medical Center, Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.


Only days ago an officer I cared for got killed in the line of duty and today I come onto DU of all places and have to read this DISGUSTING SHIT of an OP.

:grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad:

[seabeyond]

9. a cops job is ugly, messy and damn hard, often not good and certainly not easy

i wont demean or lessen all that they have to do and see and experience. i think it is by far the hardest job there is. they are givin a power they must resist, an environment ripe for abuse and a whole section of society that is out of control

but the line that has disappeared is due to the higher ups i believe. i believe that disrespect to the citizens, no longer seeing us as people, humans, but more seeing all of us bad, all of us as animals has helped to create an justified attitude of abuse. they no longer have the strong ethical support from the higher ups. they have been allowed to go over the ethical line in the name of keeping us safe, but in reality it has endangered all of us so much more.

it is a mess. we as a whole must address this. it is not any one answer.

[R_M]

12. The "line" you speak of is a jingoistic term that Americans use...

to describe the risks involved with the job at hand. It has become a popular term. It's not an easy job, but you do sign onto accepting certain risks when you CHOSE to take that job. Also, a night store clerk is much more likely to lose their life than a cop. They don't have weapons and back-up to defend themselves.

[flashl]

15. The line of demarcation conveniently changes

when they say so.

We have a high tolerance of law enforcement "line moving" misconduct threshold if, for instance, it was in a housing project or depressed neighborhoods.

Can you imagine "jump out" teams roaming through McMansion neighborhoods and knocking down doors without warrants?

Law enforcement officers that I have met confess in private that law enforcement officers who witness "bad behavior" and report such behavior can find themselves in just as much danger as the victim of the bad behavior.