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Too little data to draw conclusions about spike in Houston police shootings

One of my all-time favorite lines from a Simpsons episode came at the abrupt end of a chaotic story when the family tried to discern what the "moral" to it all was. Finally, Lisa suggested, "Perhaps there is no moral to the story," to which Homer eagerly agreed, replying it was "just a bunch of stuff that happened."That bit of wisdom came to mind when I was reading Jim Pinkerton's story from the Houston Chronicle, "More people shot by Harris officers" (Sept. 28), presenting various (mostly self-interested) explanations for why Harris County saw a jump in the number of police shootings and death at the hands of police officers last year. There were a long list of people quoted in the article looking to find the story's moral:The police union blames the economy, but also says it's because officers aren't getting enough overtime opportunities and also that, "This state, and the country, does a terrible job of taking care of the mentally ill...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on September 28, 2009 (boomark / email).