WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
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%.
“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.
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.
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U.S. police fatalities spike in 2007
Mr. Floyd points out, “Most of us don’t realize that an officer is being killed in America on average every other day,” and he is quite correct, a tremendous number of people aren’t aware and quite frankly, they don’t care…
Many feel that the police are the enemy, and in many of those cases, that assumption is correct as well, if they are criminals, you betcha, the cops ARE the enemy, and in many cases the cops are outnumbered, out-gunned and are forced fight with their backs against the wall because their every move is subjected to intense scrutiny, their arrests a negated by liberal judges that take the side of the criminal, in some cases, the bad guys are back on the street before all the reports are filed, unscrupulous defense attorneys have them bailed out before the shift is over…
The bad guys know all of this, and they play on it, it’s their security blanket, and they don’t hesitate to take a few shots at a police officer, it’s a badge of pride to the ghetto gang bangers and assorted drug dealers and various definitions of thuggery, their right of passage into full blown criminals…
And then there’s the liberal citizens among us, those that cry like babies any time a criminal goes down at the hands of the police, those that scream about the rights, human rights, that some animal supposedly has after being witnessed killing a person(s) in public, but the liberal, bleeding hearts see this as a violation of the criminals rights, it doesn’t matter that the guy was armed and threatening even more people, when the police do their jobs and the libbers go nuts…
But what about the times the police capture a bad guy without firing a shot?? What about all the bleeding hearts that piss and moan when an officer uses a Taser instead of deadly force, and in many Taser use scenarios, deadly force could have be used and would easily result in a ruling of justifiable homicide?? What about those guys?? They take a chance and make every attempt to SAVE a life, even if that life is someone that theoretically is a homicidal maniac, but there are those that accuse the cops of being judge and jury, and on some occasions, executioner as well when the officers have risked their lives to keep the public safe…
It’s a terrible shame that we lose officers in ANY number, being a police officer is a dangerous, underpaid and thankless job and the men and women of law enforcement know what they are up against every time they strap on a gun and pin on a badge, and given the current pulse of the criminal element of this nation and the liberal judges that support them, I don’t blame the cops for engaging in what some see as overly vigorous tactics, in fact, speaking for myself, I applaud the officers for exhibiting the restraint that they do, God knows, the bad guys will offer no quarter…
I know some of you have read here and seen where I posted about the border states being in an almost warlike setting in our border areas, well folks, our police officers, Deputies, State Police and Federal agents face a war zone every time the go 10-8, no matter where they are…
Ask yourself this question, and answer honestly, ‘What would I do if I were faced with the life and death situation faced by officers?’, faced with those situations every day, sometimes several times a day…
