The problem with the argument is that you can't claim that someone has been conditioned and then talk to a person who has been conditioned to be in fear on his job and expect him to say anything other then what the conditioning has taught him. Which is that the fear is justified and necessary.
I don't understand where those of you saying this get the idea that officers are taught to fear anything. Just because you are taught to be cautious and aware does not mean you are taught to be fearful. On the contrary, You train to be aware and cautious of the dangers so you won't be scared and you can act as calmly and responsibly in stressful situations. I'm not saying I've never been scared, but I neither have I ever worked in constant fear. I rely on my senses and training to help me act calmly and rationally in those situations when I need it. It doesn't prevent me from being friendly, courteous or caring. Your ideas about this are all twisted.
It's not different then talking to a black person who I would claim has been conditioned by media to be in fear every time they are pulled over, and then expect that conditioned person to say their terror isn't justified.
It is different as I described. It is the victim's mentality. You take a small amount of events, let the politicians and media blow it way out of proportion even though none of them have personally ever experienced it and they allow it to dominate the
I'm sure some people feel like officers have the most dangerous job in the United States. And hell maybe that is true. Statistically they aren't even close but you'll never convince an officer of that because the easy counter argument is that they are just hyper vigillant compared to other careers with much higher death rates such as Logging workers, Fishers and related fishing workers, Aircraft pilots and flight engineers and Roofers. That it's their guns and threat of lethal use that keeps their job from having the highest death rate.
But the cause of a lot of these police shootings is pretty clear, it's officers that are overly fearful in situations that they shouldn't be so afraid.[/QUOTE]
It's a dangerous job, but not the physically risky in my mind. But the unpredictability of dealing with other humans when they aren't on their best behavior is where the risk lies. As to your last statement I would say it could be in some cases, but that is an overgeneralization to say the cause is clear.