As of Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, more than 60 days have passed since the last law enforcement officer in the United States was killed in the line of duty by felonious gunfire.
This is the longest period in the entire history of the United States without a felonious gunfire line of duty death. The last gunfire death occured on Dec. 27, 2014, when Flagstaff, Ariz., officer Tyler Jacob Stewart was shot and killed.
The previous record of 47 days took place in 1896. Grover Cleveland was the President of the United States and Utah had just been admitted to the Union as the 45th state.
In the entire 20th century, the longest stretch without a line of duty death due to felonious gunfire was 46 days. As a nation, we have now surpassed that mark by more than a week and each day that passes sets a new record, a new standard and means that more officers are making it home at the end of their shift.
The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP), a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring fallen law enforcement officers, keeps statistics on law enforcement line of duty deaths going back to 1791. These statistics are analyzed in the hopes of creating a better understanding of what needs to be done to keep law enforcement officers safer in the line of duty.
“Although I am not naive enough to believe that this could go on indefinitely, I am encouraged by the current stretch," Chris Cosgriff, Founder and Executive Director of ODMP, said. "Despite several despicable cases of violence against police officers last year, we continue to see an overall downward trend in the numbers of felonious killings of police officers. This is in large part due to heightened officer awareness, better training and tactics, and better safety equipment being employed throughout the country. This unprecedented time period without a felonious gunfire death proves that programs like Below 100are having an amazing effect in reaching their goal of reducing police deaths to fewer than one hundred per year.”
With more than 60 days and counting of no law enforcement deaths due to felonious gunfire, the task ahead is clear, says Cosgriff.
“It is up to us now to try to figure out what we’re doing right—what is working to keep law enforcement officers safer—and how we can continue to take steps forward so that in the future, a stretch of more than 60 days without the gunfire murder of a police officer won’t be a historic anomaly.”
To call this an important stretch in law enforcement history, then, is an understatement. And with each day that passes, a new standard is set for law enforcement officer safety.