[Vision2020] police deaths at highest midyear level in decades

[Debbie Gray]

Police deaths at highest midyear level in decades

"This should be a wake-up call for the whole country."


By Kevin Johnson
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A surge in fatal shootings has
contributed to a dramatic increase in deaths of law
enforcement officers during the first six months of
this year, the highest midyear body count in nearly
three decades, according to a report due out today.

The annual count by the National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial Fund found that 39 officers were
killed in shootings, up from 27 during the first six
months of last year.

The abrupt midyear increase comes less than a year
after the organization reported that 145 officers were
killed in the line of duty in all of 2006, the lowest
annual number in eight years. That year, fatal
shootings dropped to 52, from 59 in 2005.

"These are the most alarming increases in officer
fatalities I've ever seen for a midyear period," said
Craig Floyd, the memorial fund's chairman and chief
executive officer. "It's somewhat shocking. Is there
something at work that nobody has gotten their arms
around?" he said.

The count, viewed as one of the most reliable sources
of law enforcement deaths in the country, shows
traffic-related fatalities remained the primary cause
of officer deaths. That number was up 36% so far this
year. The traffic deaths included six officers who
were struck while outside their vehicles, according to
the report. In all, 101 officers have been killed in
the line of duty from January through June.

Floyd and other law enforcement analysts said that
recent spikes in violent crime across the country may
be a factor in the rising shooting deaths this year.

"This is very consistent with the increasing crime in
many American cities," said Joseph Carter, president
of the Inter-national Association of Chiefs of Police.
"This should be a wake-up call for the whole country."

Texas reported the highest number of overall officer
deaths with 13. North Carolina was next with eight.
Among them: two Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers fatally
shot this year.

"There certainly could be a relationship to the
increases in violent crime," Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police Chief Darrel Stephens said. "A lot of
communities are seeing more robberies and aggravated
assaults involving guns."

Stephens, who also serves as president of the Major
Cities Police Chiefs Association, said officers Sean
Clark and Jeff Shelton were killed in a conflict with
a suspect after the officers had responded to a
separate domestic disturbance call.

"Clearly, if you have more violent crime, there is a
greater threat against law enforcement. One naturally
follows the other," said Floyd, who called on local
police agencies to provide additional resources,
including upgraded weaponry and body armor.

This year, law enforcement authorities across the
nation said they were arming their officers with
high-powered weapons in response to the increasing
presence of military-style weapons on the street.

In Moncks Corner, S.C., where two officers were gunned
down in March, police Capt. Mark Murray said: "People
don't have a respect for life anymore."


       
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