Elizabeth Berger
Latest statistics from the FBI present that 73 regulation enforcement officers in the USA have been feloniously killed in 2021. This represents a surprising improve of 58.7%, in contrast with the 46 officers killed in 2020. The final yr that noticed comparable numbers was 2011, during which yr 71 officers have been killed.
In response to the FBI information, in 2021, unprovoked assaults and ambushes towards the police accounted for 43.8% (n=32) of those killings. This represents a drastic improve of practically 27% compared with 2020, at which period ambushes accounted for under 17% (n=8) of line-of-duty deaths. This discovering is regarding, as a result of this circumstance has outpaced all different felonious officer deaths in 2021 and is now increased than it has been within the final 30 years.
With regards to discovering info on the variety of regulation enforcement officers killed, although, the sources generally is a little complicated. First, the official supply for information on this subject is the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) database, which is collected by the FBI as a part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. The information are additionally printed in annual reports. The newest is introduced within the Crime Data Explorer, and archives of previous reviews can be found for obtain.
Nevertheless, upon downloading the database and tabulating felonious officer deaths by yr, the numbers seem decrease than these introduced within the reviews. For instance, for the yr of 2020, the database exhibits 35 felonious regulation enforcement deaths, and the printed report exhibits 46. It’s unclear why there’s a distinction, or whether or not information are tabulated in a different way within the information versus the reviews.
Secondly, one other supply that gives counts and synopses on officer deaths and felonious killings is collated by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF). Additionally they report their findings in annual reviews, and the numbers seem barely increased than these reported in official information. For instance, the LEOMF tabulated 84 felonious killings of regulation enforcement for the yr 2021, in comparison with the estimate of 73 reported by the FBI.
A part of the explanation for that is seemingly as a result of LEOKA and UCR participation is voluntary and plenty of companies routinely don’t report their information. With regards to the NLEOMF, the identical can be true, however there are different strategies to amassing info that don’t contain relying solely on police departments. For instance, the NLEOMF permits people to submit details about fallen officers, which could enable for extra complete information assortment.
Whereas the info throughout these sources differs barely, it does counsel that felonious killings of regulation enforcement are increased than they’ve been lately. Specifically, it additionally means that ambushes and unprovoked assaults towards regulation enforcement is perhaps rising.
