GOP Seeking Police cuts as Police Deaths in line of Duty are on the rise
The new statistics for calendar year 2010 show that 72 other police officers were accidentally killed last year, mostly in vehicle crashes.
The FBI report says all but one of the 56 were shot with firearms. In one case the officer was run down by a vehicle. The killings occurred in 22 states and Puerto Rico.
Of the officers killed in the line of duty, 15 were ambushed, 14 were shot in arrest situations, seven were performing traffic stops, and six were answering disturbance calls.
Figures for 2011 are not yet publicly available, but Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller indicated the numbers could continue to rise as they spoke separately to a convention of the nation’s police chiefs in Chicago.
“Law enforcement fatalities are nearly 20 percent higher than this time last year. And gunfire deaths have increased by nearly 30 percent,” Holder said.