Law Enforcement Officer Deaths Rose Sharply During First Six Months of 2007

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund ^ | July 17, 2007 | Unattributed

[seacapn]

Washington, DC — The number of law enforcement officers killed in the United States soared by 44 percent during the first six months of 2007, and for the first time in three decades, more than 100 officer deaths were recorded by the halfway point of the year, according to preliminary statistics from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) and Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS).

The groups' preliminary data indicate 101 local, state and federal law enforcement officers were killed between January 1 and June 30, 2007, an increase from the 70 officers who lost their lives during the same period of 2006. The last time the mid-year total was that high was 1978, when there were 105 officer deaths. By year-end that year, 213 officers had been killed in the line of duty. In 2006, the year-end total was 145.

Of the 101 officers killed during the first half of 2007, 45 died in traffic-related incidents. That's an increase of 36 percent from the 33 traffic-related fatalities during the first six months of 2006. This year's figure includes 35 officers who died in automobile crashes, six who were struck by automobiles while outside their own vehicles and four who died in motorcycle crashes.

[seacapn]

From further in the article:

Texas, with 13, experienced the most law enforcement officer fatalities during the first half of the year. North Carolina, which had no line-of-duty deaths during 2006, had eight fatalities during the first six months of this year. Florida and New York had six deaths each, and Georgia and South Carolina each had five.

I'm not sure what's going on here. For whatever reason, it seems like more suicidal or disturbed people are deciding to involve or attack the police before they off themselves. Some of the officers I know have told me that interactions with people seem to turn hostile more quickly than in the past. I wonder if it's just a societal change, where symbols of authority are being targeted.

[MarineBrat]

Sad and disturbing news. May these heroes rest in peace with God.

[SteveMcKing]

The numbers have been so low (statistically) that any change seems magnified.

1 + 1 is “only 2”. But that’s a large increase in terms of percentage.

[Wil H]

This loss of life is totally unacceptable, clearly we have crime “quagmire” and the war against crime is unwinnable.

All police officers should be “redeployed” off the streets back to their police stations immediately. We do not want another single life lost by American law enforcement on our streets.

Make sense, doesn’t it?

[Inquisitive1]

...Some of the officers I know have told me that interactions with people seem to turn hostile more quickly than in the past.

Could it be that the masses are tired of police enforcing nanny-state laws and don't like it?

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I wonder how many of these police officers were killed by illegal aliens? And how many of these illegals fled to Mexico to escape prosecution?

[iopscusa]

I wonder how many have killed by Illegal Immigration from the south and from our idiot State Dept....those fiqures are Top Secret, so much so not even the NYTimes will publish.

[Labyrinthos]

Of the 101 officers killed during the first half of 2007, 45 died in traffic-related incidents.

I would like to know how many of these deaths occurred in response to a call or during a "hot pursuit" of someone who was actually a danger to society before the chase began. Nearly every day I see a LEO driving with one hand, well above the posted speed limit, while talking on a cell phone (all illegal in New York), even though they are on routine patrol and not responding to a call or in hot pursuit at the time. Perhaps if LEO obeyed the laws they are entrusted to enforce, there would not be as many highway deaths.