According to an analysis of data collected by the FBI, more police officers were intentionally killed in the line of duty in 2021, President Biden’s first year in office, than any year since 1995.
The FBI’s LEOKA (law enforcement officers killed in action) data found 73 officers were intentionally killed in 2021, as the Heartland Institute pointed out in their analysis of the data, noting, “We found felonious killings of law enforcement officers skyrocketed in 2021, increasing by more than 58.7 percent in a single year. In 2021, 73 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed, compared to 46 in 2020 and 48 in 2019.”
The Heartland Institute reported that in 1995, 74 officers were intentionally killed and that 2011 was the only year between 1995 and 2021 that had more than 70 officers intentionally killed, as 72 officers were killed that year. The Heartland Institute added, “In 2021, 32 officers were feloniously killed in an ambush or unprovoked attack, compared to 10 such killings in 2020 and seven in 2019. … Although more data will need to be provided by the FBI and local agencies before the dramatic increase in felonious police killings can be fully understood, the LEOKA data seem to indicate one of the primary explanations for the increase is a sharp rise in the number of ambushes and unprovoked attacks on police.”
Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF), told Fox News:
We believe it’s a combination … of the George Floyd protests — riots, if you will; a general feeling of a preference for less law enforcement; and less prosecution and less policing. … Law enforcement officers have essentially been marginalized and demoralized and cast aside and encouraged not to enforce the law. And so we’ve seen massive jumps in the homicide rate in cities across America.
“He added that ‘it’s natural’ rising homicide rates in major U.S. cities have ‘also resulted in many more officers being assaulted because … a lot of leaders in these cities and leaders in Congress and leaders in the White House have really voiced a lack of respect for law enforcement officers,’” Fox News reported.
“Police don’t expect you to be supportive if what they’ve done is wrong,” Johnson continued. “That’s certainly not what we’re asking for. What we asked for is that the president and the administration not make a premature, judgmental and frankly wrong comments … next time a viral video comes out..”
Johnson concluded, “Until and unless we see some leadership — both in the White House and in individual cities, district attorneys that are willing to hold police accountable when they’re wrong but are willing to support them when they’re right — we’re going to continue to speak up not only with increasing levels of violent crime but increasing numbers of assaults and the killing of law enforcement officers.”
The Heartland Institute noted, “In 2020 and early 2021, numerous efforts to cut police funding or to stop expected budgetary increases were successful, including in cities such as Minneapolis, New York City, and Oakland, among many others. In many cases, however, these decisions were later partially reversed following dramatic increases in crime.”
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Source: Dailywire
