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In this chart put out by the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund and Museum to illustrate the number of LEOs killed in the US in 2021, it appears upon first glace that each segment of the chart is proportional to the number of deaths said segments represent.
However, it should be immediately obvious that despite COVID-19 killing nearly 2/3rds of LEOs in 2021, the segment representing said deaths is less than half.
This chart can be found on page 3 of the NLEOMF 2021 annual fatalities report here:
https://nleomf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021-EOY-Fatality-Report-Final-web.pdf
Measuring the image, we can approximate the number of deaths this chart is graphically depicting, as well as approximate how it compares to the actual numbers (shown in parentheses, note due to possible measurement errors these values are approximations)
Firearms-related Deaths: 105 (+69%)
Traffic-related Deaths: 100 (+72%)
Other Deaths: 48 (+29%)
COVID-19 Deaths: 201 (-49%)
As you can see, while deaths due to firearms and traffic accidents and to a lesser extent the catch-all 'other' are dramatically overstated, deaths due to COVID-19 are dramatically understated. This is a great example of casual propaganda as well as how graphs and other graphical illustrations of data can be intentionally misleading for a variety of reasons.
jansenart
@OP Cops always fucking lie.
sparmek
Can I point out that many of these officers probably contracted covid on duty.
Comatose1737
The COVID deaths weren't actually COVID, it was co-morbidity with firearms and traffic.
LetsEatGrandpaCommasSaveLives
Can we see how many deaths are directly related to ivermectin and drinking piss? So we. can point and laugh?
Starfury42
How many unarmed people did the police kill in 2021? How about falsely arrest?
juryriggeddt
How do you look at this and your take-away is automatically that the numbers are a lie, the pixel measurements must be the truth.
sleepinggreenidea
Because the author used size to indicate magnitude (see how "covid-19" is wider than the words "covid-19"?), but did so inconsistently.
dangercat5
Wait, cops lie???
Mishe11
Intentionally misleading or auto formatting to fit "Other" into its gray box...
FairfaxJack
"Man Dies After Medical Incident
Baltzdelirium
Aimed at what
spooksterz
Fearmongering over insecurity and undermining how much of a shitty employer you've been as many employees died of a preventable disease
spooksterz
Though even disregarding covid, these numbers can't be good
Baltzdelirium
As a Leo i agree!
RVME
A good rule is to never allow the appearances of scientifically displayed data represent fact. Propaganda likes charts and calm voices.
FairfaxJack
Consider how often cops lie about the cause of death I'm surprised they admitted it was Covid instead of "Man Dies After Medical Incident"
Eidodk
have you noticed, how the first three bars are magically the size of the text in them with proper margins while the covid one is /1
Eidodk
Intentionally made larger, to illustrate the larger number of deaths from covid related causes... These bars are not made to scale.
Eidodk
They are clearly not meant as an actual representation of percentage, but as a vessel for the text only.
Nobody7713
Possible, but that doesn't mean it isn't misleading to a single casual glance.
CJisOK
Huh. Guess I’m glad to be a Scorpio.
OctopusGrift
This report uses such obtuse language.
SkutFarkas
Fuck the police!
darkstergurl
I’d also be interested to know of the 301, how many were willingly unvaccinated.
maddshakes
Would be interesting to see a representation of any deaths from departments that went against mask mandates too.
Jackpot7777777
That's a lot of Herman Cain Awards, we'll have to put the little Chinese kids in the trophy factory on double shifts.
thatwoodguy
And how "firearms" were actually suicides.
Mr21782Man
Lies, damned lies, and statistics, its a great book everyone should read to see how stats are constantly badly done.
kitkatanne
It’s cause the person who did it wanted to get all of the words on the bar and didn’t give a shit about statistics of accuracy of the pict
covideokilledtheradiostar
whoa whoa whoa...cops not caring about statistics or facts!? WHAT!?
Grimmrog
in that case, whats the point of visible bars? you could just list the numbers.
Wishbone10
So what we really need is a banana for scale
FlintNorth44
Cops use snowflake math.
UrKungFuNoGood
I doubt this is intentional. If it was they would have hidden the numbers.
Sleepyhead22
You’re an optimistic bugger aren’t you
alchaeus12
Well minus covid, each are as big as it takes to label the section
sleepinggreenidea
In light of that, there's also the decision to add "-related" to "Firearms" and "Traffic", which doubles each of their widths.
Youhavinagiraffe
This isn't optimistic. Assuming malice all the time is optimistic because it hugely downplays the prevelence and ease of miscommunication
sleepinggreenidea
Assuming malice is *pessimistic*, assuming all other things are equal. However, experience renders things unequal.
Youhavinagiraffe
Disagree. The presumption of malice relies on a naive optimism that things work out unless someone actively disrupts it and that isn't true
sleepinggreenidea
I find "things outside your control don't care" to be far optimistic than "things outside your control are conspiring to make things worse"
UrKungFuNoGood
it's probably a graphical formatting decision
sleepinggreenidea
That'd be a reasonable conclusion if "other" wasn't so small and "Covid" so large. This implies size matters while leaving deniability.
Northwindlowlander
"Firearms related" presumably also includes NDs, friendly fire,etc.
squigster37
And suicide. Which was the leading cause of death for LEOs. Somehow magically not included in any graphic.
squigster37
https://rudermanfoundation.org/white_papers/police-officers-and-firefighters-are-more-likely-to-die-by-suicide-than-in-line-of-duty/
zacknotzatch
Much safer to be a Virgo.
RussianBlueJay
Fixed it......
HappySweet
Thank you
akambe
Doing the Lord's work. Thank you, son.
badgesweedontneednostinkingbadges
Good work. I was expecting OP to do this.
Jackpot7777777
SithElephant
In most years, the leading cause of death for LEOs in the USA is traffic accidents (not counting murders by car).
DenounceAll
Not only that, but we determined in the 1970s that police patrolling has zero effect on the rate of crime too! They just do it for the power
Userlivewire
They literally drive round while messaging on their car laptop. You can watch them do it on the body cam videos.
Jamesstin
you can watch them do it if youre not a coward who slows down whenever cops are driving nearby
SithElephant
To be fair, they have to catch them all.
namAehT
Something something "kings of distracted driving"
miked854
Also, their job includes parking to block traffic.
CoBr2
And then walking out of their cars, on busy roads, to stand next to someone else's car. It's really unsurprising.
hhggg3000
Any time I get pulled over I pull into a parking lot or onto a side street. I’d hate for them to get hurt on my account.
CoBr2
I do when I can, but some highways don't have the option. Smartest cop I ever had walked to passenger window for safety.
theactualfrickinmoon
As a non american, what's a LEO?
AnyUsernameWillDoForMe
Low earth orbit
abrazenfool
A star sign
AMRIV
Law Enforcement Officer
PeerToPeerNachos
Law Enforcement Officer
Dravit
Ironic, given most of them had a few weeks of training and none know the actual law. That takes years & years of study.
jmartkdr
Law enforcement officers- includes police, state troopers, park rangers, federal agents, and so on.
Ex2bot
Low earth orbit
maddshakes
As an American, I also wasn’t aware. But we’re famous for being ignorant sluts.
RedCamaro
from same report:
TimeForAnUpgrade
Crazy that one year of Covid exceeds the prior 4 decades of everything
pocketpython
Leaving aside the one tornado death, why does drowning and death by floodwater get two different statistics?
Vesorias
I assume drowning is non-freak-accident related. Don't know why acts of nature and floodwater are separated though
IraqiWalker
Floodwater related could cover things like the flood waters dropping a big object on them. I guess?
djzapz
As a data analyst, I love granularity.
Everfearful
Im a big fan as well, but you cant apply it selectively. If youre going all the way down to 'tornado' you shouldnt have an 'other' category.
djzapz
If you look here you'll notice 301 is the number of COVID deaths and the 6 other categories add up to 37 deaths, which means that Tornado is
djzapz
1 of 37 "Other" deaths.
Everfearful
Were the four beaten to death but not physically related attacked by a telekinetic?
Gestalt7
It was clearly Mind-Quad!
PowerToAllThePeople
Yeah, did you not hear about that fight with the x-men? Storm even killed a dude with a tornado.
JustAnotherRandomCommenter
my feeling is that maybe 'physical related' means things like heart attacks while chasing suspects?
quzar
Everything other than the other causes stated that killed them outright. Stairway collapsing under them, fridge falling from window, etc.
Boksha
'Physical related' sounds like they died during a routine check-up. Doctor: "Could you take a deep breath?" Officer: *dies from exertion*
HsuDoNihm
They were emotional beatings. "Sticks and stones..." and all that.
sleepinggreenidea
...and while this gives magnitude properly, it doesn't include traffic or firearms, so it doesn't undermine OP in the way you seem to think.
SolHSA
Here you go: /a/GUWHnMx
nickelrocket
Really makes them look dumber now.
NaNinf
Thanks! This post is the first time I've seen someone calculate numbers for the bad chart instead of making a good chart. Interesting...
PigsWeGetWhatPigsDeserve
Thanks dude, I was getting ready to fix it myself. I’m upvoting 10 of your posts.
Nonada
Doing the lord's work
Preincarnated
Also flip it. We read left to right and it makes it easier to process going larger to smaller. We tend to judge things farther right as less
FoxGodRecords
Beat me to it. Well done.
Jawesome19
Do not assume malice where stupidity or lazy can explain. It probably not intentionally but a shitty paid government employee designer
godskook
Or unwitting-casualness in this sort of case, tbh. So many people will do shit like this because it "looks better" to them.
billyrayvirus
That's negligence at best.
Jawesome19
There we go, that's the word my brain couldn't think of
ThatEWO
As a moderately paid government employee I can say this is usually the culprit. Don’t expect greatness from mediocrity ?
idklolwut12
As an American- Dude. NO. Always ALWAYS assume malice.
Jawesome19
That's no way to live life. Especially, also as an American, everyone is so dumb.
gcous
Me, a paranoid person, "Always Assume Malice."
SimpleMindSimply
This fund is not a government organization. Stop blaming the government for everything.
Jawesome19
Why? It's easy and usually sorta true
clo5
Yup, looks like they just made it so the text fit inside.
DonnaNobleInTheLibrary
In other cases I might, but this just reeks of copaganda.
dangercat5
Naw fam, they lie.
kathleenturneroverdrive
I bet it's probably less malicious and more a designer trying to squeeze the labels into corresponding squares Def gives the wrong vibes tho
ProfessorAssBlast2020
found the cop
Wyndynwyre
Someone approved it. They know what they're doing. Remember that shameless post about "rescuing a lost child from the rioters"?
RickSlabjaw
I always say that any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice. This is an example.
Yummybubblez
I doubt it because police unions have been on a "our job is the most dangerous job evar" angle lately. They don't want it to scale
yeahIbreedtreelizards
I agree. Not everyone is detail minded. It drives me crazy to even acknowledge this, but so many people don't care about details like this.
Harryteeters
Oh you sweet summer child...
ProfessorVanDiggenSagg
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
handcuffedtothebriefcase
The Sacklers did the same thing with oxy data. It’s on purpose, they know people won’t notice.
ejic
How great was Dopesick?!
OctopusGrift
They wouldn't have used such weird terminology in the report is they weren't trying to be misleading.
ThatOrangeApple
If that were the case, covid should've been either small enough to just fit the text, or much larger to visualize it's significance
CPTNNemo
if it would be malicious, the numbers wouldn't be there but somewhere in text or a lot smaller.
paperliger
I design for a living and I can assure you people dont read anything. The proportion of the picture is more important in a graph.
CPTNNemo
If it is true for majority that is very sad and no wonder world goes to shit...
Dashirl
Possible of course but given the constant barage of intentional misinformation on this topic one should assume malice & distrust the source
BarryTheCyborg
It was made by a cop fund and museum, so it was definitely designed maliciously.
KirsiKitten
4EverZw
The fact they share the n-values suggests that this was less about deception and more about maintaining a certain font size for the medium.
4EverZw
Shrinking the font size to keep everything else accurate ratio wise doesn't always work, as it obscures what you think most important.
4EverZw
Hey Downvoter, not everything is put on a website. Some graphics are designed first and foremost for a small portion of a sheet of paper.
Totalwombat
Thank you!.
INeedMoreGifMeMoreJustOneMore
You're hired! Also, you're handling official government data without a contract, how dare you, you're FIRED!
TheRealPumpkinQueen
F12! F12! SHIT FUCK... THAT'S NOT REFRESH
rossdonohue
Can do it in 10 with ggplot and make it reproducible for changing data. It design visualizations for clarity though and everyone wants shiny
EmptyHouseBurglar
Fellow R lover and instructor here. High five.
rossdonohue
EmptyHouseBurglar
Youhavinagiraffe
I'm a statistician and this seems likely. Maybe originally made to be proportionate and then resized by a design/comms person who...
o4kill
Pretty certain no one gets a Strategic Communications degree without knowing they lie for a living
YellowSparrow
As a marketing person and graphic designer who also understands data, I can only see this as deliberate distortion. A decision was made.
ITryToOnlyRespondInGifs
Agree 100% why bother making the bars different sizes at all if they’re not representative of the numbers they’re made to represent?
Youhavinagiraffe
...is far less data-literate and resized the columns to fit the labels. Not an unusual occurrence (but should have been checked properly)
Jamesstin
so what is your opinion on covid 19, vaccines and their government mandation?
Youhavinagiraffe
That's not a great pick-up line FYI
trustworthyfart
Why make it a graph then?
Arcian
Nickleback fan.
overpolitemidwesterner
"graphs are pretty" says my coworkers who don't understand data
XXXSpork
A useless middle manager with a marketing degree wanted it.
TheMayorOfTittyCity
People like them
AbelardSnazz
It's a table not a graph.
trustworthyfart
Then why isn’t Covid a smaller box?
ArandomDane
Ahh... The "Single horizontal stacked bar graph" Vs table argument. The original but lesser know version of
pfunk81
It's more like a linear pie chart.
ATATtightropeWalker
Ah linear pie, just like grandma used to make!
pfunk81
They're really only good when lines are in season. Linear pie with canned lines just isn't the same.