Police killed by firearms up
A new report finds that the number of law-enforcement officers killed by firearms jumped by 56 percent in 2014.
The annual report released Tuesday by the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found that 50 officers were killed by guns this year, compared to 32 in 2013.
In all, the report says 126 federal, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty. That’s a 24 percent jump from last year’s 102 line-of-duty deaths. Shootings were the leading cause. The second was traffic-related fatalities.
December 30th, 2014 at 12:51 pm
That’s an incredibly small number, compared to most other non-office jobs.
December 30th, 2014 at 2:02 pm
The only reason it’s a huge jump is because 2013 was an outlier year. Lowest number of police deaths since 1944.
2014 has the same number of “officers killed by guns” as 2012 (50), down from 73 in 2011. The ten year average is 60.
But let’s not let that get in the way of the narrative!
December 30th, 2014 at 2:14 pm
Dang it, wizardpc beat me to it, almost word for word my planned comment.
Any LE deaths are regrettable, but it’s a dangerous job (though not more so than many others), and this year’s numbers are back in line with what’s to be expected…but as wizardpc also says, that’s not what you’ll hear. It’s gotta be all those gun nuts and the NRA!
I’d be interested to know how many of those 50 were committed by NRA members, or for that matter any “non-prohibited” person….
December 30th, 2014 at 2:25 pm
Their job is to protect and serve – not worry about statistics.
My only concern in any of these matters is the cops’ safety and their recovery after having to kill a perp in the line of duty.
December 30th, 2014 at 2:37 pm
And after further research, 2013 had the fewest number of officer deaths by shooting since…
1833.
December 30th, 2014 at 4:08 pm
Or 1933?
December 30th, 2014 at 4:35 pm
“By” or “with”.
I know, unreasonable to draw attention away from the tool.
December 30th, 2014 at 4:41 pm
Police do get into firefights with the most determined criminals; always ha\/e. but unless the media are just reporting this, there seems to be a disturbing new trend: that of actually ambushing officers.
December 30th, 2014 at 4:53 pm
Drang beat me to it;
“…50 officers were killed by guns this year…”
So the guns animated, then jumped up on their own volition and went out and killed them some cops, like something out of a darker version of Disney’s “Fatsasia”. I guess some guns really are PURE EVIL! then. Where was the wizzard when the cops needed him, and why did he, yet again, leave Mickey Mouse in charge?
December 30th, 2014 at 10:16 pm
Crotalus, it isn’t new. When I was a fuzzy cheeked rookie in the 70s, there were training videos on surviving ambushes. What’s worrisome is the number of lawmen killed on the job had been steadily declining for years (as has the overall crime rate). Cops are hoping this an outlier not a harbinger.
December 30th, 2014 at 10:21 pm
Apparently I meant 1887, which was ALSO an outlier year.
December 31st, 2014 at 11:57 am
Maybe it’s because the cops have militarized and gone from protecting and serving to harassing and intimidating.
December 31st, 2014 at 2:12 pm
AKA reversion to the mean.