Fewer officers slain on duty this year

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bluesneakers

bluesneakers

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Fewer officers slain on duty this year

Fewer police officers were slain in the line of duty this year than in 2014, even as the overall number of police officers who died on duty rose slightly, a new report found.
...

A total of 52 officers were slain in 2015, a decrease of about 15 percent. A total of 42 officers died in firearm related incidents, a 14 percent decrease from 2014.
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But the data shows 2015 was one of the safest for law enforcement in the last 65 years.
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The report:
124 Law Enforcement Fatalities Nationwide in 2015
42 officers shot and killed—52 died in traffic-related incidents
 
A more in-depth article on the issue:

Number Of Police Officers Killed By Gunfire Fell 14 Percent In 2015, Study Says

But despite several high-profile shootings of police in 2015, the group also says more officers died in traffic-related events (52) than from gunfire (42).

The number of police officers killed by gunfire fell 14 percent from the 49 who were shot and killed in 2014. Seven of those shootings followed traffic stops; six were surprise attacks on officers, such as the Aug. 29 slaying of sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth at a gas station in suburban Houston.

...

Since hitting a peak in the early 1970s with 280 deaths, the number of officer fatalities in the U.S. has been falling. Of the gunfire that killed officers in 2015, the NLEOMF says those 42 deaths "are 26 percent lower than the average of 57 per year for the decade spanning 2000-2009."
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But despite several high-profile shootings of police in 2015, the group also says more officers died in traffic-related events (52) than from gunfire (42)....

Speaking to NPR's Carrie Johnson for a report on today's All Things Considered, NLEOMF Chairman and CEO Craig W. Floyd says that while police agencies are trying to work around tight budgets to train officers on driving at high speeds, the public can also help:

"Move over and slow down when you see an emergency vehicle on the side of the roadway," Floyd says, adding that "11 officers this year were struck and killed by motorists who did not slow down, who did not move over."
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It always disturbs me when someone doesn't pull over immediately, or attempts to make it through the intersection at the last second, don't slow down when LE or ER is on the road helping someone or giving a ticket, whatever. SLOW DOWN.

And please FREAKING CHANGE LANES for LE or emergency vehicles. What good is it is everyone on the right has pulled over but someone is hogging the left lane? ARGH!!!
That is the most basic thing to know about driving.
 
EllieBee said:
Nice to have a positive trend for a change!
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It is! It's also nice to have some actual numbers. Like with so many other things a few sensational headlines can skew people's perceptions.

Allow me a brief off-topic sort of example... there have been 17 stabbing deaths in my city this year, but the last two recent incidents were extra newsworthy so the other recent incidents have gotten more attention, now suddenly there's panic because "Someone gets stabbed every day!"

It's kind of like when four police officers are killed within a week of each other (which happened over the summer) it suddenly seems like there's a war on cops.
 
I am shocked that so few people are celebrating this!
 
Happy that officer deaths are down. Hope the trend continues.
 
bwt42 said:
Happy that officer deaths are down. Hope the trend continues.
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Me too, and if we/they can work on the auto issues it will continue to drop. Eleven struck and killed by motorists who didn't slow down and/or didn't move over? That's ridiculous! I'm sure the people feel terrible afterward for being so careless, but there has to be a way to raise awareness and prevent these deaths. And those 11 are only the ones who were struck and killed, who knows how many officers were struck in total?

JMO
 
I am floored about the auto hits! That seems so crazy- I know I shouldn't be surprised by anything people do, but still....

bluesneakers said:
Me too, and if we/they can work on the auto issues it will continue to drop. Eleven struck and killed by motorists who didn't slow down and/or didn't move over? That's ridiculous! I'm sure the people feel terrible afterward for being so careless, but there has to be a way to raise awareness and prevent these deaths. And those 11 are only the ones who were struck and killed, who knows how many officers were struck in total?

JMO
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EllieBee said:
I am floored about the auto hits! That seems so crazy- I know I shouldn't be surprised by anything people do, but still....
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It's probably too much to close an entire lane any time they're in the shoulder, but I don't know how else they could prevent it. Wonder how many people speed by, confident they can go as fast as they want and not be pulled over?
 
Every year at least a dozen cops vehicles are hit here.
Generally during the winter in slide offs.
The officers are sometimes injured but I don't recall any fatal incidents.
But yes, I get road rage when people don't GTH out of the way!
 
FBI data showing drop in police deaths undermines 'war on cops' theory

Preliminary data show a 20% decrease in number of officers intentionally killed in the line of duty and the second-lowest total in the past 12 years

The preliminary numbers report that 37 US police officers (41 including those from Puerto Rico) were intentionally killed by suspects in the line of duty in 2015, a decrease of 20% from 2014 and the second-lowest total in the past 12 years.

The data seem to undermine concerns that increased criticism of police, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, has fostered a “war on cops”.

“For those who seem to believe that police officers are being killed at higher rates, and that it has something to do with the protests against police misconduct, this really shows you that there’s nothing to that,” said University of Pittsburgh Law professor and policing expert David Harris.
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...

Harris said: “The truth is we really don’t know what has driven officer deaths down to this point, because there are fewer of them than there used to be.

“But we can make some educated guesses, among those: better training and better policies and protocols.”
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Sadly there is a rise in 2016 concerning officers who have been murdered in the line of duty.

This article is just through May 13th and other officers have been murdered since that date. So I think the war on cops is very much still a major problem they are facing and may even be worse than years passed before this year is over.

Shooting Deaths of Police Officers Increase from 2015 to 2016

Seventeen police officers have been murdered with guns while on the job so far this year -- a 70 percent increase over the same period from last year. Gunfire has been the leading cause of line-of-duty law enforcement deaths for at least the past decade.

http://www.bradycampaign.org/blog/shooting-deaths-of-police-officers-increase-from-2015-to-2016

This doesn't include the fact that over 49K+ police officers are assaulted/attacked while on duty every year per the FBI. I wouldn't be surprised to see that number also rise in 2016. Nor does it include the attempted murders where the officer was shot but lived leaving some of them with life altering disabilities.

I do believe there is a war on cops and its only going to become worse instead of better. One officer was just murdered in MA in the past day or so when he made a traffic stop. Another cop was also shot in AZ recently. Those haven't even been added to the 2016 list, and as of May it had already increased by 70% from the same time last year. There may have been more than two to add to the list that I haven't read about. The drastic increase shows how there is increasing danger for all of our police officers.

IMO
 
bluesneakers said:
It's probably too much to close an entire lane any time they're in the shoulder, but I don't know how else they could prevent it. Wonder how many people speed by, confident they can go as fast as they want and not be pulled over?
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I believe there have been cases this year where officers were run over intentionally by the suspects as well.

I always slow way down when I see an officer on the side of the road at a traffic stop or when a construction crew is working. I am a very patient person and have never experienced road rage even if someone cuts in on me while driving. I think keeping a level head is much better than resorting to anger. I do see some who do rage and put others in danger.
 
The 'war on cops' leads to ... one of the safest years for cops on record

One of the most interesting things to me about this is how it highlights the dangers of other professions. Maybe more will get done to help them as well. (Fingers crossed.)

People working ordinary construction jobs are 21 percent more likely to die on the job than a cop. Taxi drivers take a 33 percent greater risk when they climb in their car every day than an officer faces when he pins on his badge. No one talks about the War on Line Workers, but the folks keeping your lights on face a 50 percent greater risk of dying than does a cop.

But even those jobs are safe as houses when you compare them to the steel workers and farmers who face twice the risk of cops, or the guys working in recycle centers who are three times as likely to die, or the people employed in the very ordinary task of repairing roofs while facing a 3.5x greater chance of dying.

At the top of the chart, loggers are almost 10 times more likely to die out there in the woods than a police officer walking the beat.
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bluesneakers said:
The 'war on cops' leads to ... one of the safest years for cops on record

One of the most interesting things to me about this is how it highlights the dangers of other professions. Maybe more will get done to help them as well. (Fingers crossed.)
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Those are ALL dangerous jobs. I totally agree. But the difference is that the danger in a police officer's job is quite often coming from an INTENT by other's to maul or murder them. A logger or a steel worker are not walking around with the feeling that someone is lurking nearby, ready to shoot them or knife them. So cops can feel paranoid about those people around him that he is out there trying to protect. It is a very stressful position to be put in. The same with Taxi drivers and Convenience store workers.
 
bluesneakers said:
The 'war on cops' leads to ... one of the safest years for cops on record

One of the most interesting things to me about this is how it highlights the dangers of other professions. Maybe more will get done to help them as well. (Fingers crossed.)
Click to expand...

While that is true for a past year such as 2015, 2016 is not bearing that out since the deaths are up 70% already. I don't think it begins to tell the full picture of what police officers face every year in our country.

I cant think of another profession on American soil who is assaulted/attacked almost 50K times a year like our police officers are for just doing their jobs.

To only list deaths is misleading, and under minds the grave dangers our officers face, imo.

IMO
 
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