Police Deaths at Highest Midyear Level in Decades

In the first six months of this year, 39 officers were shot and killed.

ByABC News
July 18, 2007, 11:58 AM

July 18, 2007— -- WASHINGTON — A surge in fatal shootings has contributed to a dramatic increase in deaths of law enforcement officers during the first six months of this year, the highest midyear body count in nearly three decades, according to a report due out today.

The annual count by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found that 39 officers were killed in shootings, up from 27 during the first six months of last year.

The abrupt midyear increase comes less than a year after the organization reported that 145 officers were killed in the line of duty in all of 2006, the lowest annual number in eight years. That year, fatal shootings dropped to 52, from 59 in 2005.

"These are the most alarming increases in officer fatalities I've ever seen for a midyear period," said Craig Floyd, the memorial fund's chairman and chief executive officer. "It's somewhat shocking. Is there something at work that nobody has gotten their arms around?" he said.

The count, viewed as one of the most reliable sources of law enforcement deaths in the country, shows traffic-related fatalities remained the primary cause of officer deaths. That number was up 36% so far this year. The traffic deaths included six officers who were struck while outside their vehicles, according to the report. In all, 101 officers have been killed in the line of duty from January through June.

"This is very consistent with the increasing crime in many American cities," said Joseph Carter, president of the Inter-national Association of Chiefs of Police. "This should be a wake-up call for the whole country."

Texas reported the highest number of overall officer deaths with 13. North Carolina was next with eight. Among them: two Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers fatally shot this year.

"There certainly could be a relationship to the increases in violent crime," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Darrel Stephens said. "A lot of communities are seeing more robberies and aggravated assaults involving guns."