BY BOBBY HALTON
British politician Benjamin Disraeli once said, “There are lies and damn lies and statistics.” We need to remember important words like these when we are being subjected to unjust criticism, specifically when one of our most successful institutions is being attacked, as was the case when the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program was recently disparaged by the Heritage Foundation.
The Heritage Foundation, an independent think tank, released a paper that stated the AFG was not effective because it had not lowered the current rate of line-of-duty deaths (LODDs). When a program such as the Assistance to Firefighters Grant is examined through a single issue such as lowering LODDs, you can use statistics to say whatever you want. All you have to do is pick an issue that has remained unresolved or still has significant shortcomings.
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