Increase in police deaths isn’t what it seems
By Abbie VanSickle, Center for Investigative Reporting
In his remarks at the funeral of slain New York police Officer Wenjian Liu, FBI Director James Comey told those gathered that 2014 had been an unusually deadly year for law enforcement officers.
“We had 115 officers killed in the line of duty last year, a shocking increase from 2013,” he said.
Comey’s remarks suggest that officers are dying at the hands of criminals at a higher rate than in the past. But do the statistics support this “shocking increase?” Not really.
While newly available data show that law enforcement deaths did rise from 2013 to 2014, a closer analysis shows that 2013 may have been the aberration, with an unusually low number of police deaths, while 2014 marked a return to the recent norm.
“It was not far out of line from the other years,” said Steve Groeninger, spokesman for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. “I think it was troubling in that I think that we as a community had hoped that we were turning a corner on law enforcement safety, and, boy, they just jumped back up again.”
The memorial fund, a Washington-based nonprofit that tracks nationwide law enforcement deaths, compiles a database widely used by researchers. Its preliminary data for 2014 show that 126 law enforcement officers in the U.S. died in the line of duty, up 24 percent from 2013, when 102 officers were killed. In 2012, 122 officers died. But in 2011, 171 officers lost their lives, and in 2010, the figure was 161.
The biggest news in the 2014 statistics may be that firearms deaths surpassed traffic-related fatalities as the leading cause of death among law enforcement officers.
Firearms-related fatalities among law enforcement officers have decreased each decade since the 1970s, according to the memorial fund’s data. In the 1970s, an average of 127 officers were killed with guns annually. That dropped to an average of 87 officers a year in the 1980s. Last year, firearms deaths rose from 32 officers in 2013 to 50 in 2014 – a 56 percent increase, but still below this decade’s average of 53 officers a year.
This data is largely in line with related sources. The FBI tracks deaths of law enforcement officers each year and publishes an annual report, “Law Enforcement Officers Killed or Assaulted,” also known as LEOKA. This data differs slightly from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s data because it does not include some types of law enforcement officers, such as prison guards, and relies on voluntary reporting by agencies.
While the 2014 FBI report is not yet available, prior data show that 2013 was an exceptionally safe year for police. According to the FBI, 26 officers were killed with firearms in 2013, a sharp decline from 2012, which saw 44 officers killed with firearms, and 2011, when 63 officers killed.
Interested in how many people were killed in 2014 by law enforcement? That’s much a harder question to answer. No national government database tracks deaths at the hands of law enforcement. Instead, local police departments can self-report information to the FBI on what it calls justifiable homicides, but that data is widely considered to be unreliable, according to recent media reports including Nate Silver’s ESPN website FiveThirtyEight and the Washington Post.
None of this data is normalized for total number of police, which has changed, and will probably increase with population.
Police also have a relatively low work-related death rate compared to other professions as well. They’re lucky they aren’t Construction workers or professional fishermen!
If the career criminals were locked away for life, a federal three strikes law passed, and harsh sentencing laws followed the rate of all homicides would drop like a rock. Weak soft on crime liberals prevent this country from being much safer than it could be.
We have more people in prison than any other nation and don’t have much to show for it. And you want us to do more of what is not working.
Why?
We have a ridiculous number of people in prison because we have a huge population and a ridiculous number of laws. Any one of us could probably be arrested for SOMETHING we do any day of the week. It’s absurd. We have far too many victimless crimes being charged and prosecuted. Get rid of half the laws. Let people be free to “ruin” their own lives with drugs, alcohol, prostitutes or gambling, if that’s what they choose to do. Until they infringe on YOUR rights, by stealing your television or something, who are you to tell them to live otherwise? Because when they go broke, your taxes will cover their expenses? Well THAT needs to change too.
Yes Stinky Fish we seem to have more in prison. WHY???? Because some people just don’t get it. It’s a pretty simple concept…….obey the laws and there is no problem. We don’t have much to show for it? Explain.
70% of those in prison are Illegals, Deport all of them and the crime rate will drop big time
Old timer is right, Take out the 33% minimum or higher number of people illegally in the country in prison and this country would have a very reduced number of inmates and a savings in the billions. But this kind of common sense is missing in DC. Instead, the border remains unsecure for thousands of miles and the crime and criminals pour in and the drug cartels continue to do their damage and their crime business with little help from the current disaster in DC.
Most of the prosecution of illegal immigrants presently are for immigrations crimes (ie being here without documentation)and drugs, not because they are committing other crimes. This is making the prison industry very happy. Tougher sentences haven’t worked (we have had three strikes for a few decades now) because no one committing a crime thinks they are the one who will be caught. Want to drop the crime rate? Go back to what prison was when I was younger….both punishment AND rehabilitation programs. That greatly lessened the recidivism rate. We are simply turning out people who have no options and no skills. But that isn’t as much fun as just deciding they are not worth rehabbing.
‘70% of those in prison are Illegals’
Let’s fact check the local conservative. Why are facts such a major problem for them? A 10 second search would save you the embarrassment of being so insanely wrong. If the number was 20% would your world view change or like so many other would your confirmation bias keep you willfully ignorant.
Check the incarceration rate, its not a population thing. It is the highest in the world.
‘We don’t have much to show for it? Explain.’
Highest incarceration rate and aren’t any better. The rate in europe is 1/7th of ours, same with Canada, Australia, and Canada. The US is much more dangerous than all of those countries. Our justice system doesn’t work. And it has some serious racial biases, which I doubt you have much of a problem with. We spend the most money, and have below average results. And some people want us to do more of what is obviously failing.
Gosh Fish, and hear I thought you were going to give us what real information you found on the percentage of illegal immigrants are in jail. That would have been a real contribution to the forum.
Common sense and public safety would be to take the legal residents who are career criminals with three or more serious felony convictions who are out doing 90% of the crime and put them away in all of the new space in federal prisons after the illegals are deported back to their home countries. Then again common sense doesn’t exist in DC currently with this bungling Bummer watching sports most of the time or golfing.
Our prison system is too easy and provides too much for the prisoners. They have meals, healthcare, cloths, the chance to make money selling drugs and prostitution don’t have to work much at all. There is not rehabilitation taking place and most don’t want to be rehabilitated. There is a big issue of race in the prisons because of the gangs and in the justice system because of so many repeat offenders.
Put the prisoners to work doing hard labor and get something out of them. It will piss off the unions but we could use them to take care of road work, clear overgrown forrests, farm labor. Crime may go down if the prisoners knew they would work hard while serving time and not just sitting on their ass.
Deport the illegals and get rid of those who commit violent crimes first.
Our system is broken and no one is wanting to fix the mess.
reloman: Yes, the stinky fish failed to give any real info. Shocking!!