Police Officer Line Of Duty Deaths Up Sharply In 2007

Ken McCracken • January 1, 2008

There were 179 line-of-duty related deaths in 2007, up from 147 in 2006. Here’s the breakdown:
Total Line of Duty Deaths: 179
9/11 related illness: 5
Accidental: 3
Aircraft accident: 3
Animal related: 1
Automobile accident: 47
Boating accident: 1
Bomb: 5
Drowned: 3
Exposure to toxins: 1
Fall: 2
Gunfire: 63
Gunfire (Accidental): 4
Heart attack: 7
Heat exhaustion: 1
Motorcycle accident: 5
Struck by vehicle: 9
Vehicle pursuit: 6
Vehicular assault: 11
Weather/Natural disaster: 2
Average tour: 10 years, 7 months
Average age: 38
By Gender:
Female: 8
Male: 171
Texas is the leader by far with 22 line-of-duty deaths, followed by Florida and the U.S. Government with 16 each, and New York with 11.
This, of course, is a subject that is very deep in my heart, having been a police officer for the past 19 years and I am proud to have served as one. My heart goes out to the families of those brave men and women who put it all on the line every single day. It all comes down to my favorite quote:
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm.” – George Orwell.
Source: The Officer Down Memorial Page. Check out the site.

Tags: Uncategorized

http://Array Bill Mitchell

Harry Reid saw these numbers and made the following statement:

“There is an entractable civil war going on in the United States that cannot be won by local police forces. I am therefore presenting legislation that will withdraw all local police personnel to Canada where they will be safe, and yet still able to react to an emergency when needed.”
carrick

You can compare these 2007 numbers to 2006 and it seems like the extra deaths were equally divided between automobile accidents and gunfire.

Driver safety training, greater availability of bullet-proof vests and requiring two men per patrol car might reduce these numbers…. I’d be interested to see if there was a increase in one-man patrols (possibly associated with tightening budgets) and whether that may be responsible for the higher totals.
http://www.bikebubba.blogspot.com/ Bike Bubba

We should keep in mind that 187 deaths is up from a time series average of about 160 annually; 2006 was actually abormally (and blessedly) low. Also, when one considers the data of the past century, the big anomalies are Prohibition, the Great Society-early Reagan, and 2001.

Otherwise, there seems to be something of a “floor” of officer deaths; around 100 in 1910, around 150 now, and this “floor” reflects the progress we’ve made in reducing firearm deaths (vests?) and such. Officer deaths per capita is steadily down except for the anomalies noted.

No consolation to a widow or orphan, but we’re doing pretty well, I think. Any Congress-critter who wants to make law out of these statistics is quite frankly out to lunch.
Hawk

Pilgrim,

What policies should be implemented to prevent this?
http://ewebsmith.com/ ews48

Here, here, for peace officers.

These warriors for peace are every bit the heroes that are serving in Iraq.

We ask them to deal with the scourge of society so we don’t have to, to be changed forever by witnessing the worst things that mankind can do, to race to our homes to protect us because we heard a noise, and to put their lives in jeopardy everyday so we can remain safe and aloof from the rabble. They do this bravely and politely, day in and day out.

Smile and say hello when you see a cop to let them know you value them. That’s all they want in return.
http://the-vigil.blogspot.com/ Vigilante

I just read somewhere on Milforum that the average voter now is putting Iraq second to the economy in the coming election. The American voter, said the article, is suffering from ‘Iraq-fatigue’. WTF is that? WTF are our troops suffering from???
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof_positive

That’s MSM speak for “Please don’t make us report any good news out of Iraq! That might lead to giving a Republican credit for something!”

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Police Officer Line Of Duty Deaths Up Sharply In 2007

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