Post by goomba on Dec 28, 2011 21:27:02 GMT -5
Police Fatalities Rise 13% In 2011
The number of law enforcement officers killed by firearms made 2011 a remarkably deadly year in an era that's presenting greater challenges to officers with an already hazardous job.
Across the nation, 173 officers were killed in the line of duty during 2011, a 13% increase from the 153 duty deaths in 2010. That year marked an 8.5% increase from the 141 officers killed in 2009, according to data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).
For the first time in 14 years, the number of officers killed by gunfire (68) surpassed the number killed in traffic-related accidents (64).
The rise in gunfire fatalities is likely a result of police manpower shortages caused by police layoffs, downsized training budgets, and increasingly determined violent criminals, said Craig Floyd, NLEOMF's chairman and chief executive.
"Perhaps the most alarming part of the story is, if you go back two years, we had been on the heels of a two-year decline in law enforcement fatalities," Floyd told POLICE Magazine. "In 2009, we saw the lowest fatality number in 50 years."
www.policemag.com/Channel/Patrol/News/2011/12/28/Police-Fatalities-Rise-13-In-2011.aspx?ref=BreakingNews-20111228&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Enewsletter
The number of law enforcement officers killed by firearms made 2011 a remarkably deadly year in an era that's presenting greater challenges to officers with an already hazardous job.
Across the nation, 173 officers were killed in the line of duty during 2011, a 13% increase from the 153 duty deaths in 2010. That year marked an 8.5% increase from the 141 officers killed in 2009, according to data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).
For the first time in 14 years, the number of officers killed by gunfire (68) surpassed the number killed in traffic-related accidents (64).
The rise in gunfire fatalities is likely a result of police manpower shortages caused by police layoffs, downsized training budgets, and increasingly determined violent criminals, said Craig Floyd, NLEOMF's chairman and chief executive.
"Perhaps the most alarming part of the story is, if you go back two years, we had been on the heels of a two-year decline in law enforcement fatalities," Floyd told POLICE Magazine. "In 2009, we saw the lowest fatality number in 50 years."
www.policemag.com/Channel/Patrol/News/2011/12/28/Police-Fatalities-Rise-13-In-2011.aspx?ref=BreakingNews-20111228&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Enewsletter