Police officers recorded an unpleasant feat with the highest number of line-of-duty deaths in 2021, exacerbating the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies this year.
The Officer Down Memorial Page currently lists 479 duty-related casualties for the year.
The cause of death remained fairly varied, but COVID-19 accounted for the bulk of fatalities with 67% of deaths in 2021, according to ODMP.
Yet it’s noteworthy that FBI data indicates 70 police officers suffered felonious deaths, which is a 50% increase over last year, Fox News reported.
The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) revealed earlier this month that 58 officers had been murdered as of Nov. 30, with 314 officers shot overall. This is a small increase from last year but up by 20 incidents from 2019.
However, the startling data comes from ambush-style attacks on law enforcement officers, which spiked 126% from the same time last year, Fox reported.
The National FOP tweeted the information along with a message that “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”
Looking at individual states, Texas has the most officers shot in the line-of-duty at 42, with Illinois at 25 and California at 21, the New York Post reported earlier this month.
Meanwhile, homicides are hitting record levels in many cities this year as law enforcement agencies are still reeling from the “defund” movement and criminals have been emboldened by the same political malevolence.
