A national police union leader says the uptick in shootings and ambush-style attacks targeting police this year is linked to growing hostility toward law enforcement.
A report published last week by the National Fraternal Order of Police shows 314 officers had been shot in the line of duty through November — the most in the last three years, with another month to go.
According to the union, 312 officers were shot in all of 2020, 293 were shot in 2019 and 237 in 2018.
The report states that 58 of the officers shot this year have died. That’s up from 47 in 2020 and 50 in 2019.
Union President Patrick Yoes says “the recent erosion of respect for law enforcement has fueled more aggression towards police officers than what has been seen in previous years.”
“As violence continues to be aimed at law enforcement, our officers continue to show up every day to keep the communities they serve safe,” Mr. Yoes continued. “These men and women run toward danger to protect the public when everyone else is running away.”
According to the FOP report, the majority of officers shot this year as of Nov. 30 worked in Texas (42), followed by Illinois (25); California (21); Florida (17) and Georgia (17) and Alabama (15), according to the report. Some states had no police shot, including: Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories of Guam and the American Samoa.
The report also states there have been 95 ambush-style attacks targeting police so far this year, which is 126% higher than the same time last year.
Betsy Brantner Smith, spokeswoman for the National Police Association, told The Washington Times that the media and lawmakers are adding to recent anti-police sentiments.
“It’s no secret that the unconscionable vilification of American law enforcement in the last 18 months by the media, activists, politicians and others has left much of the police profession short-handed, demoralized and sometimes hesitant to police proactively,” said Ms. Brantner Smith, a retired police sergeant.
She added that the “Defund the Police” movement “has left many agencies lacking in training dollars just at a time when, as evidenced by the FOP’s alarming statistics, many police officers need more and better officer survival training.”
The FOP president also called on Congress to pass the “Protect and Serve Act,” which would make it a federal crime to knowingly cause, or attempt to cause, injury to a police officer. It was introduced earlier this year by Senate Republicans.
The law, he said, would “address the terrible violence targeting our law enforcement officers … 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.”
