US Police Fatalities Spike in 2007

[seriousstan]

Source: wtop

WASHINGTON (AP) - A record number of fatal traffic incidents and a double-digit spike in shooting deaths led to one of the deadliest years for law enforcement officers in more than a decade.

With the exception of 2001, which saw a dramatic increase in deaths because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 2007 was the deadliest year for law enforcement since 1989, according to preliminary data released jointly by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Concerns of Police Survivors.

The report counted the deaths of 186 officers as of Dec. 26, up from 145 last year. Eighty-one died in traffic incidents, which the report said surpassed their record of 78 set in 2000. Shooting deaths increased from 52 to 69, a rise of about 33 percent.

"Most of us don't realize that an officer is being killed in America on average every other day," said Craig W. Floyd, chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.



Read more: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=104&sid=1316929

[Purveyor]

1. Hmmmm... Just "Don't TAZE ME Dude".... eom

[sasquatch]

2. "Eighty-one died in traffic incidents"

They need to teach those people how to drive.

[seriousstan]

3. How many cars have you chased? They do teach these people how to drive.

These people have more professional enhancement days than teachers.

You realize they do encounter extreme situations.

[sasquatch]

4. When it's your job though your expected to be good at it

Sometimes it's just their own dumbluck that they get killed in non-high risk driving expeditions.

[jayfish]

12. I Don't Agree With Stan On Much,...

but LEOs are very well trained in driving. When I started my tactical driving course I thought I was a great driver. After the first day of actually driving, I found out how wrong I was.

Jay

[Jokerman]

11. It would help if they obeyed the laws they're supposed to enforce.

The cops around here drive like idiots even when they aren't responding to a call.

I don't think they even know what a turn signal is, much less how to use one.

[krispos42]

5. Well, this number is vastly at odds with the DoJ...

Between 1996 and 2005, of the 575 officers killed --

• 26% were in arrest situations
  
• 18% were in ambush situations
  
• 18% were making traffic pursuits/stops
  
• 17% were on disturbance calls
  
• 12% were investigating suspicious persons/circumstances
  
• 10% were in other situations

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/leok.htm

These are officers that were "feloniously killed".

And some visual aids...







DoJ disclaimer...

* The 72 deaths that resulted from the events of September 11, 2001 are not included in this total
Source: FBI, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 1973-2005

[truthisfreedom]

6. Thank you SO MUCH for that clarification.

The truth is always helpful. Thanks again.

[Zynx]

13. The traffic incidents number I think includes normal accidents in the line

of duty not necessarily associated with a felony.

[DCKit]

7. Not to be too snarky, but...

I'd like to see how the trend in the numbers of civilian deaths with police involvement over the past six years stacks up against this. It has long been my opinion that crime rates are THE leading economic indicator and I haven't been proven wrong at any time in the past twenty years.

[jaksavage]

8. Maybe it is because they are getting more aggressive

Seems like they are armed to the teeth
dressed for combat
super sized
and lookin for trouble

In my small town...

[CBHagman]

9. I suspect there are other factors at work here as well.

I'm thinking of funding, support for community policing, staffing issues, deployments of Guard and Reserve units to Iraq and Afghanistan, plus the Bush administration's policies on gun laws and funding of local and state police.

See this Washington Monthly article from 2003 for one perspective.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.wallace-wells.html

How can cities be so foolish as to cut their police forces and spark an inevitable rise in crime? Part of the problem is the state and local fiscal crisis that has hit communities across the nation. But faced with the need to trim budgets, most cities have first cut health, education, and transportation spending, and tried to preserve their police forces. The real cause of the police shortage is not in City Hall but in the White House. The Bush administration's first budget eliminated all direct funding for street cops. The war in Iraq, fought largely without allies, has required the call-up of huge numbers of reserves, many of whom are cops. And instead of using the men in blue as eyes and ears on the domestic war on terrorism, the administration has, in effect, used them as glorified security guards. The federal government's repeated directives to local police to beef up patrols at potential terrorist targets have taken officers away from their regular duties. And because the feds have not paid for many of these extra patrols, homeland security has stretched local budgets even further.

[bean fidhleir]

10. Being a cop is nowhere near the top 10 most dangerous occupations

It's probably down around 25th, maybe even lower. There are over 80,000 cops in the US, and 96% of them will start collecting an EXCELLENT pension around age 45. Only 4% will be unlucky enough to die, and their families will receive $500,000 or more in taxpayer-paid benefits.

And they treat us like the enemy. What's going on?