Here We Go Again

By now everyone should be aware of what happened in Dallas last Thursday.

Dallas Shooting Suspect, Micah Johnson, ‘Upset at White People’

A military veteran who said his goal was to kill white police officers opened fire Thursday night in downtown Dallas, leaving five officers dead and seven wounded...

Shortly thereafter, similar incidents followed.

Tennessee shooter targeted white victims, similar to Dallas ambush

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has released the name of the suspect behind Thursday morning's random shooting in Bristol, TN that claimed the life of an area newspaper carrier and injured three others, including a local police officer.

The TBI says 37-year-old Lakeem Keon Scott was armed with at least two weapons, an automatic-style rifle, a pistol and a large amount of ammunition...

Preliminary findings indicate Scott may have targeted people and officers after being troubled by recent events involving African-Americans and law enforcement officers in other parts of the country.

Missouri Cop 'Fighting For His Life' After Being Shot in Traffic Stop

A police officer is "fighting for his life" after he was shot during a traffic stop this morning in Ballwin, Missouri...

The incident, which was caught on police dashcam, happened around 11 a.m. local time on Friday when an officer pulled over a vehicle for speeding...

After speaking with the driver, the officer went to his car to do paperwork ... the driver exited his vehicle, approached the officer's car, fired three shots, returned to his vehicle and fled.

The suspect, Antonio Taylor, a 31-year-old black man who was paroled in 2015 after serving time on a federal weapons charge, was charged with assault of a police officer, armed criminal action and a felon in possession of a firearm...

Gunfire strikes San Antonio Police headquarters

Multiple gunshots were fired at the San Antonio Police headquarters building Saturday night... There were no reports of injuries.

Bullet marks were found on the exterior wall of the building, and shell casings were discovered in a nearby alley...

This incident comes as police departments nationwide are on edge following the shooting of 12 police officers in Dallas.

I'm a data guy. My first professional career involved numbers, algorithms, and analytics. My second career relied heavily on data collection and analysis. So when I view the events of the past few days (the Dallas shootings and related aftermath), I get frustrated when so many use emotions in place of analysis and logic.

Here's some numbers to chew on.

Last year (2015) 990 people were shot and killed by police in this country. Approximately 50% were white, 26% were black, and the remainder were hispanic or 'other.' 9% were unarmed. 74% were shot while some sort of attack was in progress.

This year (2016) 512 people have been shot and killed by police to date. That's pretty much on track with last year's numbers. Approximately 47% were white, 24% were black, and the remainder were hispanic or 'other.' 7% were unarmed. Data was not provided regarding whether or not an attack was in progress.

Another piece of data was cited by Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke (who, BTW, is black).

"Forty percent of law enforcement officers in the country that are killed in the line of duty are killed by black men," Clarke said, pointing out that blacks only represent about fifteen percent of the population.

The data indicate that there is no epidemic of police shooting blacks. The numbers have remained steady.

What has changed is the use of social media to share and encourage emotional and illogical responses to these incidents. We also have grandstanding politicians and their enablers in the press who are busy spinning these tragedies to advance their narrative. For example, in a Facebook post last week obama had this to say.

"What's clear is that these fatal shootings are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve."

I guess barry can't be troubled to examine the facts.

He's not alone. Here's what some SJW had to say in the New York Times.

... this brand of tragedy has become routine… Law enforcement, militarized and indifferent to black lives, is the problem.

Of course, hillary had to chime in as well.

Speaking to a largely African-American audience at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, (hillary said)... it was important to acknowledge the "implicit bias" in society and some police departments.

(Side note: hillary desperately needs the black vote to help her get elected, so it's not surprising that she's pandering to them. But some conspiracy theorists think there might be another, more sinister explanation.)

I don't doubt that some of the shootings may not have been justified. But there are a myriad of factors in play here - training, mental and emotional composure of the officers involved, experience, actions of the suspects, and yes, possibly even some racial bias. But to tag all shootings as racially motivated, and to paint all cops as indifferent or even hostile to blacks, is not only false and misleading, it is grossly irresponsible. It leads to incidents like the Dallas shootings, and other similar events.

There have also been reports of individual black people and police officers coming together and helping bridge the gap between both sides. Here's one example.

Click to embiggen.

Color me foolishly naive and optimistic, but I hope that the events of the past few days will open eyes on both sides. Regardless of my fetish for data, I realize that perception is important. And right now, rightly or wrongly, blacks perceive that cops represent a threat to them, and are responding accordingly. We have to hope that the police have a better grip on their emotions and don't push back, leading to a vicious cycle of tragedy upon tragedy. We also have to hope that calmer heads will prevail on the other side, and that, over time, a calm and reasonable dialogue will emerge.

Like I said, color me foolishly naive and optimistic...