Huge Spike In Cops Dying On The Job
WASHINGTON - 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.
Officer fatalities have generally declined since peaking at 277 in the report said. Historically, officers have been more likely to be killed in an attack than to die accidentally and shootings outnumbered car crashes. But those trends began to reverse in the late This year, about six of every 10 deaths were accidental.
Floyd credited technology improvements with helping reverse the trend. Safety vests save lives and non-lethal devices such as electric stun guns prevent some fatal encounters, he said. He attributed the spike in shooting deaths to the increase in violent crime nationwide.
“Law enforcement is the front line against violent criminals,” he said.
Of the 81 traffic deaths this year, 60 officers died in car crashes, 15 were hit by cars and six died in motorcycle crashes.
Police departments have worked to limit high-speed chases and only seven of the car crashes were attributed to such pursuits, Floyd said. Crashes involving a single police cruiser responding to a call were far more common, he said.
After traffic crashes and shootings, physical causes such as heart attacks were the leading cause of death, contributing to 18 fatalities. Other causes of death included smaller categories such as airplane and boating accidents, for an additional 18 fatalities.
Texas led the nation with 22 fatalities followed by Florida (16), New York (12), and California (11). The report includes the death of 17 federal law enforcement officers, including five Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents killed in two bombings in Iraq.
The report counted six times in which multiple officers were shot and killed in the same incident, such as the September shooting in Odessa, Texas that left three officers dead while responding to a domestic violence call. Domestic violence and traffic stops were the circumstances that most commonly led to fatal police shootings this year, the report found.
The average age of officers who died in 2007 was 39. Most were men and had served an average of about 11 years in law enforcement.
(AP)
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March 2007 - Rest in Peace Senior Corporal Mark Nix, 33, Dallas Police Department, who was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend a murder suspect, Wesley Ruiz. A U.S. Marshall’s Task Fugitive Task Force spotted Ruiz leaving the Oak Cliff (Dallas slums) residence of a drug king pin wanted by a major DEA investigation in Laredo. The drug king pin has associates that are confirmed members of the Zetas, a Mexican paramilitary group believed to be responsible for slipping across the border to carrying out hits for Mexican drug cartels.
Do you understand why I am so pissed off about the border . . .
November 2005 - Rest in Peace Dallas Police Officer Brian Jackson, 28, was shot under the arm in the 2400 block of North Henderson Avenue in East Dallas after he chased a gunman on foot who had reportedly threatened his ex-girlfriend and fired a shot in her home. Juan Lizcano worked as a landscaper and had been in the United States for the past two years as an illegal immigrant. This wasn’t Lizcano’s first violent run-in with the police. He was first booked in September for threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend with a knife. Six days later, he posed again for a mug shot for a charge of driving while intoxicated.
Thank you Kay Bailey Hutchison for protecting our Texas border.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:44 amThose two pictures from that aftermath of the bank robbery from the movie “Heat” was the most realistic recreation of what a fire fight actually sounds like and the speed with which they play out. I would at times rent the video just to play that ten minute scene to get my heart started. I had a surround sound system, safest way to sit in the middle of it all. Patrick, I think I could use a jump start. Think you could run that scene?
December 27th, 2007 at 2:44 amWhy is this happening?
The pussification of the police forces by liberal policies and fear of bad press by a bunch of detached from reality hand wringing ‘journalists’ has created an atmosphere where the police are not feared by the criminals.
Turn the camera off and get the night stick out and let the punks know who owns the street. Tasers only keep the thugs from being injured badly, not the police officer, while delaying the possible need of the use of deadly force.
I have been told in Charlotte, that the criminal element does not fear the police or incarceration. They have to follow policies that handle the punks with kid gloves and the jail is not an unpleasant place to be. They do not fear the police, therefore they act accordingly.
Rest in peace Sean Clark and Jeffrey Shelton of the CMPD.
December 27th, 2007 at 4:46 amSteve in NC
Your kidding right?
Cops have more power than ever. Its unprecedented. Warrentless searches based on “probable cause”. Abuse and harrassement to settle personnel scores ad infinitem.
The notion that EVERYONE who wears a uniform is a hero is BULLSHIT.
God I have never seen a country so desperate for heroes and something to believe in.
It takes a miracle for a bad cop to be fired because of the FOP. (Thats typical in Repub America the only strong union is a cop union) They stick him behind a desk for six months and then he is back with his same auro of scumbag entitlement.
December 27th, 2007 at 6:41 amTo the commentor after Steve in NC, are you out of your fucking mind?
December 27th, 2007 at 6:55 amNot everyone who wears a uniform is a hero, no shit, are you that naive?
I will focus on the 99% good and not the 1%. I easily choose a side here, You can stand and scream about the one bad apple, while I choose to toss it out and not let it ruin my view of the rest.
That’s like saying all the presidential candidates are idiots based only on the ramblings of Ron Paul, and not listening to the rest of them.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:23 amSteve
I respect your answer. I don’t believe 99% are good and 1% bad. I would say its probably in 2007 65% good 35 % bad.
John
Politics and economic/educational envy are also factors in how cops treat people. I am not talking about city cops who have to deal with the scum of society everyday I am talking sheriff types who work in middle and upper class neighborhoods. Which are 80% of the cops in the US.
Besides it is not surprising that deaths are up. Guns are everywhere and easily obtainable. Thats part of the system now. Cops are going to have to live with that.
They are not forced to be cops this is the land of oppurtunity they can do another line of work.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:30 amTo the commentor after Steve in NC,
December 27th, 2007 at 7:45 amCan see why you might have a problem,
your attitude is showing. Enjoy your thumps.
Paul Ron, you’re much akin to your name sake or did you choose that moniker because you wish to emulate Ron Paul?
What do you base your “knowledge” of police officers on, was it the last officer who pulled you over and gave you a ticket? Or maybe it was the way your child described their “run in” with authorities. Any way whatever gave you such a pessimistic view of law enforcement needs to be revisited. You toss around statistics with having inkling as to the real numbers behind them.
Here is a news flash for you… Scum live in “middle class” neighborhoods too, Dufus!
You might want to take a good introspective look into your own doings because you might just find out that you may be part of the problem.
December 27th, 2007 at 8:21 amHey guys, don’t bother trying to reason with this asshat…….His name speaks volumns!
@ paul ron
Go back and smoke some more dope………..stop showing everyone your ignorance?
December 27th, 2007 at 8:46 amAnd in recent weeks/months Philadelphia has had a bit of a rash of “cop-icides” …
December 27th, 2007 at 2:59 pmPaulRon said: “Besides it is not surprising that deaths are up. Guns are everywhere and easily obtainable. Thats part of the system now. Cops are going to have to live with that. ”
You must be very young. Guns are much more difficult to obtain today than in the past. I bought my first shotgun through the Sears-Roebuck catalogue, the second from Montgomery Ward.
December 27th, 2007 at 3:48 pm—lee
I wonder how many of those deaths occured along the border.
In regards to the troll above, 99% of nazis give the other 1% a bad name.
December 27th, 2007 at 4:48 pm