Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Police Fatalities Up 37%

It doesn't feel more dangerous - it is more dangerous.
* So-called cluster killings helped make 2010 a particularly deadly year for law enforcement, with deaths in the line of duty jumping 37% to about 160 from 117 the year before, according to numbers as of Tuesday compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

There also was a spike in shooting deaths. Fifty-nine federal, state and local officers were killed by gunfire in 2010, a 20% jump from last year, when 49 were killed. The total doesn't include the death of a Georgia State Patrol trooper shot in the neck Monday night in Atlanta as he tried to make a traffic stop.

And 73 officers died in traffic incidents, an increase from the 51 killed in 2009, according to the data.

* The two law-enforcement agencies with the most deaths were the California Highway Patrol and the Chicago Police Department, each with five.
Definitely not a list we like to see anyone a part of, let alone the top spot.

We hope the commissioners keep this in the back of their minds during the budget decision.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another Police Officer was killed in Texas today: shot to death-
http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/29/police-texas-cop-jillian-michelle-smith-slain-trying-to-protect/

Anonymous said...

Do you think our BOC cares about who dies and lives. They are only interested in the bottom dollar figure. We are just tokens to place around with everyday. This county deserves whatever it gets from reduce salary's and furloughs.

They sure can buy a lot of furniture and pay severance pay to their friends.

Hell it's only taxpayer money.

Anonymous said...

BOC logic will say..hell furlough the SOB's...it will lessen their chance of getting killed.See we are doing you a favor.We can use the loot we save to give it to our staff and buy unnecessary furniture,what the hell r u guys bitching about?

Anonymous said...

Thanks to our judicial system for letting this piece of dirt back out on the street. Thanks to the Pardon & Parole Board for letting this piece of dirt get out of prison. I like the old style of justice......I an eye for an eye.
Actually, if this piece of dirt was in Turkey, He couldn't do any of this any more......"No more hands".....Works for me !!!!

Anonymous said...

Once again...something we can most likely shoulder upon the irresponsibility of the judicial system for letting violent offenders back on the streets early.
With some of the low sorry bonds our judges give and the leniency of the system in the name of "overcrowding" and "second" and "third" and "fourth" and so on and so forth chances, it's really no surprise that this is happening.

Anonymous said...

Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the rise of community-oriented policing over the last few decades has also had the unintended consequence of lessening the public's respect for officers.

"It's a cascading effect of the people thinking police are here to serve and protect them on an individual basis" instead of acting as an arm of the government, she said. "We spend hours teaching children about Shakespeare and history, but we don't devote even an hour a week to the role of police in creating the world in which we live."

This right here nails it. Citizens think they can push officers around and don't care if they get into trouble in the process because of our weak legal system. It's all part of the new entitlement culture in this country.

RSC said...

There's something to be said for a man that has strap a gun to himself just to go to work everday.
For without us, there would be complete chaos in the world we live in.
There are weak people that inhabit this planet that cannot protect themselves, therefore it is left up to us the common police officers.

Anonymous said...

They don't give a rat's backside about us. They will come to our funeral and look sad in the face of the cameras and tell everyone how they tried to make it safe for all but they know the truth and the truth is ...we are on our own folks...

Anonymous said...

It probably doesn't seem like it from within the blue circle/line, but you actually have a better chance of being hurt or killed as a garbage man than on the beat. There are a lot of jobs more dangerous than being a constable and the insurance industry and risk management studies back that up. Just sayin...