Police Funerals

A San Diego policeman was killed on duty. His funeral on Nov 4, 2010 was attended by 3400 police people. Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger was one of the speakers at the services. Governor-Elect Jerry Brown was expected to attend, along with the city council, county board of supervisors and other dignitaries as well as law enforcement officers from as far away as Chicago, Texas and Florida. Police people from nearby cites patrolled San Diego so the San Diego police people could attend the funeral. There were over 800 police vehicles in the funeral procession.

Solid waste haulers rank third on the list of the riskiest jobs in the United States, according to a study by the Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Miami, and the University of Miami. Averaging 90 deaths annually per 100,000 workers, collection falls behind fishing, with 178 deaths, and timber cutting, with 156. Many trash haulers work for local governments and many trash haulers work for private companies like Waste Management. Aircraft pilots had death rates in 2004 of 92 per 100,000 workers.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund reported 2009 statistics. The fund, a non-profit group, reported that 125 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 2009. 56 of those deaths were from traffic accidents. There are about 800,000 law enforcement people in the U.S. This would equal a death rate of about 16 per hundred thousand, far below other occupations. Where are the public dignitaries and the media to cover the deaths and funerals of those people killed in the line of duty with higher fatality rates than law enforcement?

Why does a government employee killed on the job get such a big government paid ceremonial funeral and a private employee killed on the job is ignored? Commercial fishermen who provide us food and construction workers who build our homes and transportation workers who provide our fuel have higher occupational fatality rates than police people. So why does a funeral of a commercial fisherman not get the same attention as a police person’s funeral? Why do police persons’ heirs receive more and better benefits than the heirs of a commercial fisherman or a trash hauler?

The reasons are the powers of the government employee unions. They lobby for these State paid funerals and time off to attend the funeral of another government employee.

These government employees do what is in their best interest. They try to promote their value so others will invest in them. All humans try this tactic. The government unions have the power to pull it off and the private construction worker does not. The State always tries to glorify itself and its functions. It tries to lower the value of the individual private citizen and raise the value of the “guardians”. The State employees always have a marketing campaign that tries to sell their value so the private citizens will be glad to buy from the monopolistic State at higher prices than provided by a free market.

Charles Tolleson