Update April 11, 2017 – Law enforcement fatalities (from all causes) rose to their highest level in five years in 2016, with 144 officers killed in the line of duty, according to  data compiled and released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF)in their 2016 Law Enforcement Fatalities Report.

Firearms-related incidents were the number one cause of death in 2016, with 64 officers shot and killed across the country. This represents a significant spike—56 percent—over the 41 officers killed by gunfire in 2015. Of the 64 shooting deaths of officers this year, 21 were the result of ambush-style attacks—the highest total in more than two decades. Eight multiple-shooting death incidents claimed the lives of 20 officers in 2016, tied with 1971 for the highest total of any year since 1932. Those incidents included five officers killed in ambush attacks in Dallas (TX) and three in Baton Rouge (LA) spanning 10 days in July.

Fifty-three officers were killed in traffic-related incidents in 2016, which was 10 percent more than the 48 killed on roadways in 2015. Of the 53 traffic-related deaths, 28 died in automobile crashes, 15 were struck and killed while outside of their vehicle and 10 were killed in motorcycle crashes. Prior to 2016, traffic-related incidents have been the number one cause of officer fatalities in 15 of the last 20 years.

Officer Safety – Perceptions and Realities

The execution style killing of a San Antonio officer on November 21, 2016 was the 20th police officer killed in an ambush attack in the year . With more than a month to go, the number of  ambush attacks on officers has hit a ten-year high, a 67 percent rise in fatal shootings of police.Still a rash of killings in the latter half of 216 may be a turning point or a spike but it has dramatically increased fear and widened the chasm between activists protesting controversial police shootings and the police.  

Despite horrific and highly publicized attacks on police in 2016, the decade starting in 2010 has been the safest ever in terms of assaults and ambushes. The data is better than it appears as it is reported in absolute numbers though the number of sworn officers has increased each decade. The most dangerous decade was the 1970 with an annual average of 232 on duty deaths. In the 2000-2009 decade the average was 166 while in the six years from 2001-2015 it had dropped to  136. 

See also https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/01/12/are-police-officers-being-assaulted-and-killed-more

Decade by Decade Law Enforcement Deaths from 1960 (ALL CAUSES)

1960s: 158     1970s: 232  HIGHEST      1980s: 191      1990s: 162     2000s: 166        2010-2015: 136 LOWEST

Officer On Duty Deaths from Shootings

**As of November 21, 2016

Deaths, Assaults & Injuries (2004-2013)

Average Per Year 151  57,346                15,375

* Source: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund; ** Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

PERTINENT ITEMS AND ARTICLES

FOP calls for Federal hate Crime protection for police

NYPD sergeant fatally shot in Bronx makes 116 police officers who have died on duty so far in 2016

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/nypd-sergeant-fatally-shot-116-officers-dead-2016-article-1.2858912

Where is the progressive outrage when police officers are murdered?

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/442407/cop-killings-progressives-double-standard-violence

MORE DATA

YEAR AND NUMBER OF ON-DUTY DEATHS (data source FBI)

______________

 ALL DEATHS WITH CAUSE FROM OFFICER DOWN MEMORIAL PAGE -2016