Officers Deaths up Nationwide this year

Everyone be careful out there. With the minimal amount of officers on each shift we all know we can only count on each other. Be smart, the drug dealers are worth your life if you are the only one 10-8 and your backup is on the other side of the county....


__________________________________________________ ___________
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, according to two Washington groups.

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.

Story continues below ↓
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“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.

6 in 10 deaths accidental
Officer fatalities have generally declined since peaking at 277 in 1974, 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 1990s. 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.

Heart attacks a top cause
After traffic crashes and shootings, physical causes such as heart attacks were the leading cause of death, contributing to 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.

Is there a typo in that first sentance?

yes it should read "the drug dealers are NOT worth your life" Sorry...

Sorry to be a hater, know ya meant well.