(UnitedVoice.com) – Police officers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the US. They put their lives on the line every day to protect their communities. Unfortunately, recent data shows a record-breaking number of officers were shot last year.
On January 1, the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) released a report about the number of law enforcement officers shot and killed in the line of duty in 2023. According to the figures, 378 cops were shot in the line of duty last year. That was a 14% increase from the 330 police officers who were shot in 2022.
There were also 115 ambush-style attacks on police officers in 2023. That’s defined as an attack when a cop is hit by gunfire without warning or an opportunity to defend themselves. Those ambushes resulted in 138 officers being shot, including 20 who died. One of those occurred in Los Angeles in September, when LA County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer, 30, was shot to death while waiting at a traffic light in a marked patrol car.
The report wasn’t all bad news. While 46 police officers were killed in 2023, that was down from the 62 who died in 2022 and the 64 who were killed in 2021. In fact, it was the lowest number of officers killed in the last six years.
Still, the record number of shootings has alarmed the FOP. President Patrick Yoes told Fox News Digital that the organization hoped 2022 would be a “high-water mark,” but they “were wrong.” He went on to say the “dramatic improvements in medical trauma science and anti-ballistic technology” aided in decreasing the number of cops killed in the line of duty.
Yoes wanted people to know that the numbers all represent real heroes who have parents and children. “This scale of violence against our officers is horrifying and simply unsustainable,” he said. Also, he told the reporter that he wasn’t surprised there was such a problem with recruitment when so many officers were being shot.
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