Chris Lange, FISM News
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2021 marks the deadliest year in U.S. history for police officers, according to a December report from The National Fraternal Order of Police.
The FOP recorded that 314 officers were shot in the line of duty, 58 of whom died. “Ambush-style attacks” were up 126% at the beginning of December from the previous year. The report predates the murder of Baltimore police officer Keona Holley, 39, who was ambushed and shot in her patrol car on Dec. 16.
“We are on pace this year to see the highest number of officers shot in the line of duty in one year ever recorded,” FOP president Patrick Yoes told Fox News earlier this month, adding that more officers have been killed in the line of duty by gunfire in 2021 than in any other year.
The sobering statistics come at a time when police departments across the nation grapple with a confluence of challenges including skyrocketing crime, COVID-19, staffing shortages, and low morale directly linked to the “defund the police” movement championed by many Democratic leaders.
“There is no doubt that the recent erosion of respect for law enforcement has fueled more aggression towards police officers than what has been seen in previous years,” said Yoes. “As violence continues to be aimed at law enforcement, our officers continue to show up every day to keep the communities they serve safe. These men and women run toward danger to protect the public when everyone else is running away.”
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: The violence against the brave men and women continues to rise!
⚠️ 314 Officers Shot
⚠️ 58 Officers Killed by Gunfire
⚠️ Ambush Attacks on Officers Up 126% from 2020 (YTD)
Pray for America’s Law Enforcement! pic.twitter.com/ufZehytfGM
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) December 3, 2021
According to a National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial fund report, as of Monday, officer fatalities involving firearms are up 31 percent from 2020 and traffic-related fatalities are up 30 percent. The deaths of 320 officers have been attributed to COVID-19.
Additionally, twenty-nine Border Patrol agents have died in the line of duty, 27 of whom died as a result of contracting the virus in the course of their work.
Many conservative leaders have levied harsh criticism against the Biden administration for not requiring COVID-19 tests for illegal immigrants, though testing is required for those who legally enter the U.S.
At pace with the increase in officer fatalities, homicides in the nation have skyrocketed. Twelve U.S. cities reported record-high murders in December, according to an ABC News report.
“Nobody’s getting arrested anymore,” former New York Police Department detective Robert Boyce said. “People are getting picked up for gun possession, and they’re just let out over and over again.”
Yoes has called on Congress to “address the terrible violence targeting our law enforcement officers and pass the ‘Protect and Serve Act’ to better protect the brave men and women who wear the badge and send a clear message to those who would seek to do them harm.” More than a dozen Senate Republicans introduced the bill earlier this year which would make it a federal crime to knowingly cause or attempt to cause injury to a police officer.