Wait, the narrative has changed
The AP a couple of weeks ago:
The number of officers killed in the line of duty by gunfire increased 24 percent from 2008, according to preliminary statistics compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a national nonprofit organization that tracks officer-related deaths.
The AP a couple days ago:
124 officers were killed this year, compared to 133 in 2008. The 2009 total represents the fewest line-of-duty deaths since 108 a half-century ago.
Well, which is it?
December 31st, 2009 at 11:30 am
The decreased number represents the total officers killed by all causes while the increased number is officers killed only by gunfire.
An increase in gunfire deaths coupled with a decrease in traffic deaths resulted in an overall decrease in officer deaths.
December 31st, 2009 at 11:38 am
According to the officer down memorial page, there were 120 cops killed in the line of duty in 2009.
55 in vehicle crashes
49 by gunfire (at least two killed mistakenly by other cops)
4 in plane crashes
2 killed by inmates hand to hand
9 heart attacks on duty
1 when a tree fell on him
I have an upcoming post on this.
December 31st, 2009 at 11:42 am
To add:
In 2008, there were 138 cops killed in the line of duty:
41 gunfire
71 in vehicle crashes
1 hit by a train
1 stabbed
24 other causes
December 31st, 2009 at 11:46 am
Relevant statistics are on this page http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm
The more important statistic is LEO feloniously killed.
2009 hasn’t been posted yet, but 2008 was 41 killed feloniously in the line of duty.
Some interesting notes from that:
# 36 of the 42 alleged offenders had prior criminal arrests.
# 11 of the alleged offenders were under judicial supervision at the time of the incidents.
# 4 officers attempted to use their weapons; 11 officers fired their weapons.
# 19 officers were slain with firearms when they were 0-5 feet from the offenders.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Of the 49 officers killed by gunfire in 2009:
1 was killed while working off duty as a security guard
2 were mistakenly shot by other cops
2 were shot by their own guns after a criminal disarmed them
3 were shot by former police officers
of the remainder:
11 were shot with unknown type firearms
5 by unknown type rifles
3 with shotguns
17 with handguns
5 with weapons covered by the AWB
December 31st, 2009 at 1:35 pm
It sounds like the most effective thing we can do to protect our men and women in blue is to get them away from motor vehicles. I guess we could always re-implement widespread foot patrol and “mounted” patrols on horseback. I guess there’s no need to mention what those “safety” changes would do to response times.
Maybe we just have to accept that policing a free people in a republic is inherently risky. That’s one reason we honor our peace officers so much and pay them fairly well.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:37 pm
So five cops were shot by police officers or former police officers. That’s roughly ten percent.
I’ll bet none of them were shot by lawfully armed citizens.