The local news tried to spin the new Oklahoma City murder statistics as “good news.” The homicide rate, they explained, is finally dropping. But what they failed to highlight is the fact that 1 out of every 6 homicides in the city is committed by a police officer.
While 2014 saw a significant decline in murders compared to the last two years before, the climbing rate of police killings is disturbing. That is, it should be disturbing, but since the local mainstream media outlets refuse to discuss this epidemic of police murder, most do not even know to be outraged.
Oklahoma City saw 62 homicides last year, according to local KFOR News. Just two years before there was a record number of homicides in the city.
“We’re always happy when crime numbers are dropping, particularly when it involves people’s lives like homicides,” Oklahoma City police MSgt. Gary Knight said.
In both 2010 and 2011 there were 60 homicides in the city each year. So 2014 was a drop back to those levels. The biggest spike was in 2012 when the number climbed to 99, and then dropped to 75 in 2013.
“Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason why one year we have more homicides than another,” Knight said, still refusing to comment on the number of homicides that the police are responsible for.
“Most homicides fall in the category of drug sales, gang life or prostitution. That’s where a vast majority of the homicides come from,” Knight said.
He seemed oblivious to the fact that legalizing behaviors that are a matter of personal choice (even if those choices are not necessarily the best for you), would virtually end this violence, borne of the black market. “There’s just no good way to predict the number of homicides. It ebbs and flows. Some years are higher than others.”
Knight did acknowledge that 2014 saw a significant rise in officers shooting citizens. He had nothing to say about that though.
