On The Job Murder Rate

This proves that only a Investigative Report, death, or controversy regarding a LEO will be front page news. This article was buried on page 8 of the SHT:

Dying in the line of duty

Troubling trends in the numbers of police deaths

Published: Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 30, 2011 at 3:22 p.m.
Last year in Florida began and ended with the fatal shootings of police officers. Unfortunately, in Florida and across the nation, officers were shot and killed throughout the rest of the year.

Prior to the risky New Year's weekend, 68 officers died from gunshot wounds during 2011, which made shootings the most frequent cause of death for the first time in 14 years. (Traffic accidents have long contributed to the most deaths of officers; last year, however, 64 died from such mishaps.)

Nationwide in 2011, a total of 173 officers perished in the line of duty -- a 13 percent increase over the number in 2010 and a 42 percent rise compared to 2009.

Fourteen officers died in Florida last year, the most in any state. Seven of those -- including 25-year-old Lakeland police Officer Arnulfo Crispin, who died last month -- were killed by gunfire.

There were also well-publicized close calls in Florida: A Hillsborough County deputy was shot three times, in response to a domestic violence call, but survived; a school resource officer in Largo was stabbed by a 13-year-old who tried to take his gun; a U.S. Marshal was injured and barely escaped a shootout in St. Petersburg that claimed the lives of two officers.

And, nationwide, the International Association of Police Chiefs estimated that at least 70 officers survived shootings because they were wearing body armor.

These troubling upward trends taking the lives of law enforcement officers occurred after the United States experienced a dramatic, decade-long decline in the homicide rate. Between 1991 and 2010, the murder rate in the U.S. fell by 51 percent, Charles Lane of The Washington Post recently wrote in a column published by the Herald-Tribune. Rates for other crimes -- burglary, property and auto theft -- also dropped.

As a result, according to Gallup polls, more Americans feel safer today than they did one, two and three decades ago.

Yet, based on the statistics and events of the last few years, police must feel as though they are at even greater risk.

St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon, whose department had three officers gunned down during a 28-day period in early 2011, told the Tampa Bay Times he believes the trends are part of a fundamental shift. "The mentality of the criminal has changed," he said. "The consequence -- the prison time -- doesn't seem as meaningful as it once did."

Harmon also said he believes that criminals have greater access to firearms -- including powerful ones -- than in the past.

Those weapons, including automatic or semi-automatic rifles, pose a threat not only to police officers but to the public -- as drive-by or gang-style shootings in Bradenton, Palmetto and Sarasota last year made readily apparent.

Police and sheriff's departments, and other agencies, have taken positive steps toward improving safety -- providing body armor, offering better training. But more work is needed; perhaps a joint effort by the police chiefs association and the U.S. Justice Department will generate more ideas.

Florida and other states have increased their prison populations to record-high levels but it's clear that not even imprisonment -- or the threat of it -- is enough to deter a minority of Americans from shooting police officers. Getting such people and the weapons they use off the streets must be law-enforcement priorities -- for the good of officers and the people they protect.

Sadly another reason:





OGDEN, Utah (AP) – One officer was killed and five other drug task force members and a suspect were wounded in a gunfight Wednesday evening during a raid in an Ogden neighborhood, authorities said.


By Erin Hooley, Standard-Examiner via AP
Police officers and emergency crew are seen near the scene of a shooting Wednesday in Ogden, Utah.
Enlarge
By Erin Hooley, Standard-Examiner via AP
Police officers and emergency crew are seen near the scene of a shooting Wednesday in Ogden, Utah.
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The shots rang out before 9 p.m. Wednesday as law enforcement officers converged at a house on Jackson Avenue, said police spokesman Lt. Tony Fox.
Ogden police said in a statement early Thursday that the agent who died from his wounds was Jared Francom, a seven-year veteran who is survived by his wife and two young children. Five others officers from multiple agencies remained hospitalized with serious to critical injuries. No more information on their conditions was released.
The sole suspect in the drug-related shooting was at a local hospital under guard, with non-life-threatening injuries.
No other names have been released.
The shooting occurred as an anti-drug strike team was serving a warrant. The Standard-Examiner in Ogden reported that more police responded upon word of at least one officer shot.
Police blocked off the area from 34th Street and Jackson Avenue to 32nd Street and a SWAT team took positions in that area of Ogden, which is about 35 miles north of Salt Lake City.
Authorities have not released information on how the officers and the suspect were shot. The newspaper reported police eventually surrounded the suspect near a backyard shed. The residence was secured after the arrest, and at 9:45 p.m. police announced there was no longer a threat to the community, the paper reported.
The team serving the search warrant involved officers from the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force. The force's website says the unit is made up of officers from the Weber County Sheriff's Office, local police departments and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
Four of the officers were taken to nearby McKay-Dee Hospital. Several off-duty doctors and nurses were called in to help with the situation, according to hospital spokesman Chris Dallin, who said he couldn't provide information on the officers' conditions and didn't know where the suspect was being treated.
Witnesses said they heard three quick pops followed by a two- to three-minute pause, then lots of gunfire.
"We came running outside to see what was going on," Janessa Vanderstappen, who lives nearby, told the Deseret News. "Officers told us to go back in our house."
Vanderstappen said she went back inside, and minutes later heard yelling coming from the backyard. She said she walked onto the back porch to see officers addressing a person hiding in a nearby shed.
"There's cops telling him to 'put your hands up, put your hands up,'" she said.
Mat Weinberger, who lives about a half block from the scene, said he first thought the noise was fireworks.
From the porch, he told the Salt Lake Tribune that he could see several police cars parked at a nearby intersection. He also could hear a voice on the police radio shout that an officer was down.
He estimated that between 30 and 40 shots were fired during the shootout.
"Chaotic end to a quiet night," he said.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.