A Disturbing Trend in Law Enforcement Dangers

摘要

Every December, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund releases a report listing the names of every federal, state and local law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty during that year. It is always a sad occasion, and particularly so for the families and friends of the men and women who have died. But this year we were also able to report a glimmer of good news. In 2004, for the third year in a row, our tally of 153 deaths was well below the decade-long average of 164 annual fatalities. While our greatest hope is that the number of law enforcement fatalities will continue to decline, we know that it will take much more than wishes alone to spare the lives of our peace officers.