Matt Madrigal: Being a police officer doesn’t automatically make you a hero

Re “Feel free to record officers’ dangerous job” (Letters, March 20): I read chief Galen Carroll’s Letter to the Editor and noticed the words “dangerous job” and “hero” were used in the first paragraph. I disagree.

Oxford Dictionary defines “hero” as “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” Individual officers may perform deeds that are heroic, but this doesn’t mean all officers are heroes.

According to the Washington Post Worker’s Comp statistics for 2013, the top five most dangerous jobs are in these industries: logging, fishing, aircraft piloting, extraction work and roofing. Police officers fall behind groundskeepers when it comes to on-the-job injuries. A taxi cab driver is more than twice as likely to be murdered on the job than a police officer.

Being a police officer in Modesto is even safer. Two Modesto officers have died in the line of duty since 1870. One resulted from a vehicle assault in 2002 and one during a pursuit in 1973. I wouldn’t call people facing these odds “heroic.”

Statistics at FBI.gov show the violent crime rate steadily decreasing since 1994. The chief’s assertions that officers are “trying to quell violence” infers violent crime is rising. It is not.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Matt Madrigal: Being a police officer doesn’t automatically make you a hero."