By Richard McGowan
Guest Writer

Editor’s Note: Richard McGowan, Ph.D., an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, has taught philosophy and ethics for more than 40 years, most recently at Butler University. This column appeared in a July email newsletter from Indiana Policy Review Foundation, a nonprofit education foundation focused on state and municipal issues. 

Richard McGowan

INDIANAPOLIS — June was not a kind month for Indiana. Shortly before Father’s Day, two very young children were fatal victims of child abuse. Then, to end the month, Trooper Aaron N. Smith died after being hit by a stolen car in which two people were fleeing police. Smith was setting up stop sticks when the car diverted its path, crossed lane lines, and struck Trooper Smith.

The driver of the car has been “charged with murder, resisting law enforcement and operating a vehicle while taking a controlled substance resulting in death,” reported the Indianapolis Star. The Star also quoted a statement from the Indiana National Guard: “Judging by his membership in the Guard and State Police, he had a desire to serve his community, state and nation, and he will be missed.”

The Indiana National Guard understands the matter correctly. Police officers do serve the community, often at great risk, and, sometimes, at great sacrifice. According to FBI data, between 2010 and 2019, 511 police officers have died a felonious death. Of that number, 485, or 94.9 percent, were men, and 26, or 5.1 percent, were women. The 511 officers feloniously killed involved 442, or 86.5 percent, white officers, and 55, or 10.8 percent, black officers, as well as 14, or 2.7 percent, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander officers.

In 2020, 46 police officers died a felonious death and in 2021, that number grew to 73 deaths. The number of felonious deaths of police officers in 2022 decreased to 60, a number still too high for dedicated people who serve their communities while putting their lives in peril.

As to those who commit the felonious assaults that result in an officer’s death from 2010-2019, the largest disparity was between men and women. Offenders numbered 537 with men constituting 523, or 97.4 percent, of the offenders. By race, whites numbered 303, or 56.4 percent of offenders while blacks were at 199, or 37% of the total. American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander constituted 20, or 3.7 percent and in 15 cases, the race went unreported. The offender numbers do not match the population cohorts.

The demographic data, as reported by the Census Bureau, shows that in 2019, America’s population was about 60 percent white, 18.5 percent Hispanic, and 12.2 percent black. Women represented 50.4 percent of the population and men, therefore, were 49.6 percent of the population. The fact that men compose 97.4 percent of those who killed police officers is a disgrace, a shameful comment on how we educate and raise our young men. Men need be more like police, who use their strength to protect and serve people.

Whites, by population percent and percent of felonious offenders, align closely, with not much of a disparity. Blacks do have a disparity between percent of population and percent of felonious offenders. Yet, the Chicago Tribune in 2015 wrote “There are no simple conclusions or trends that can be gleaned from the database alone, but it provides context that based on the raw numbers, officers are no more likely to be killed by black offenders than white offenders.”

The Tribune got it wrong. Patterns do exist: Men commit felonious death of police officers far beyond their percent of the population and blacks commit felonious death of police officers beyond their percent of the population. In the same way men are overrepresented compared with women for felonious deaths of police officers, blacks compared with whites are overrepresented.

Recognizing patterns when patterns exist would help prevent the deaths of people like Trooper Aaron N. Smith. May he rest in peace.