WASHINGTON, July 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The number of law enforcement officers killed nationwide during the first half of 2005 declined by more than eleven percent over the same period last year, and came within one death of the lowest mid-year point in 40 years.
Seventy federal, state and local law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty during the first six months of 2005, according to preliminary numbers recently released jointly by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) and the Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS). This is a marked decrease from the 79 officers who lost their lives during the same period a year ago, and it nearly matches the previous low mid-year tally of 69 in 2002. Mid-year deaths for 2002 and 2005 are the lowest since 1965.
California was the deadliest state for law enforcement officers with seven deaths during the first six months of 2005. Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas all ranked second with four fatalities apiece, followed by the states of Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Arizona, each with three officers killed.
In an effort to continue the downward trend, the NLEOMF and COPS are urging law enforcement agencies nationwide to take two key actions: ensure that every officer is issued and wears a bullet-resistant vest; and provide adequate levels of driver training for all officers. According to the NLEOMF, bullet-resistant vests have helped reduce the number of fatal officer shootings by 36 percent over the past 30 years. During that same period, however, the number of officers killed in automobile accidents has increased by 40 percent, and a lack of adequate driver training has been cited by the NLEOMF as one of the reasons.
Floyd expressed significant concern that the controversy over degradation in a specific type of body armor may be leading some officers from wearing their vests.
''Our organization has always advocated for the increased use of body armor for every law enforcement officer as a vital layer of protection against the daily dangers of this job,'' said NLEOMF Chairman Craig W. Floyd. ''We continue to urge communities to support appropriate levels of funding to ensure that their officers are suited up for safety.''
''There are far too many sad stories about officers whose lives may have been saved, but weren't because they were left unprotected against the force and firepower of criminals or tragic accidents behind the wheel,'' said COPS National President Shirley Gibson. ''With support from their communities, law enforcement agencies can keep these statistics on a downward trend and COPS can add fewer families to its membership.''
The recommendation by the NLEOMF and COPS is seconded by a number of law enforcement organizations. According to the International Associations of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Dupont Kevlar Survivors' Club(r), which tracks incidents in which officers' lives have been saved by body armor, nearly 3,000 have been protected from injuries that likely would have been fatal since 1975. Based on its own research, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that the risk of fatal injuries for officers who do not routinely wear body armor is 14 times greater than for those who do.
''Body armor doesn't just help protect officers from bullets - it also deters death and serious injuries from stabbings, motor vehicle crashes and traffic scenes where officers assisting victims are struck by other motorists,'' said Ronald W. McBride, a former Chief of Police and a representative of the Survivors Club. ''We join NLEOMF and COPS in urging communities to do everything possible to ensure their officers take steps to save their lives.''
In addition to urging the use of body armor, the IACP has also created a special initiative driven by a vision -- ''zero officers injured or killed'' -- that aims to reduce the perception that, because law enforcement is inherently dangerous, death and injury are simply ''part of the job.'' The initiative's three-pronged approach focuses on technologies, policies and training activities that can halt the still-alarming rate of death and injury.
Floyd noted several practices that can bring about a decline in driving deaths.
''We absolutely have to ensure that officers get more training behind the wheel before we send them out into the high-risk situations that most face every day,'' said Chairman Floyd. ''Safer automobiles will also make an important difference, as will safety restraint systems that are practical and effective for giving officers maximum protection in the event of an accident.''
Of the 70 officers killed to date in 2005, 32 were shot, 17 died in auto accidents, 10 officers succumbed to job-related illnesses, five were struck by automobiles while outside of their own vehicles, one officer died during a training exercise, one officer was stabbed, one officer was hit by a train, one officer was beaten to death, one officer drowned, and one officer fell to his death.
The NLEOMF manages the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, located at Judiciary Square in Washington, D.C., which is visited annually by more than 150,000 people. The NLEOMF permanently records and commemorates the service and sacrifices of law enforcement officers and serves as a forum for information and education to promote officer safety. The NLEOMF is also building the National Law Enforcement Museum, which will provide an educational, inspirational and accurate view of the vital role of law enforcement in a just and civil society.
COPS provides resources to assist in the rebuilding of lives of surviving families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty as determined by federal criteria and educates the public on the need to support survivors of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.