Gun deaths of officers surge in US but remain below historic highs

The number of law enforcement officers killed by firearms while on duty jumped by 56 percent in 2014 and included 15 deadly ambush attacks, new figures show. Despite the year-on-year climb, gun-related police deaths remain below historic highs and are lower than the yearly average for the past decade, statistics released Tuesday from by the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund show.

This year's increase in fatal shootings of police followed a dramatic dip in 2013, when the figure fell to levels not seen since the 19th century.

But the new figures come during a time of heightened sensitivity over instances of violence against officers, with New York in the process of burying two officers shot dead by a gunman. It also comes amid scrutiny of police tactics and use of force following the high-profile killings of unarmed black men by white police officers, including the deaths of Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The memorial fund’s annual report found that 50 officers were shot dead in 2014, up from 32 last year but the same as 2012 figures. In 2011, 73 officers were killed in gunfire, the most of any year in the past decade. The average since 2004 is 55 police deaths annually.

In all, the report found that 126 federal, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty in 2014. It represents a 24 percent jump from last year's 102 on-duty deaths. But it is lower than the average annual figures since 2004 and the all-time high of 156 in 1973, said Steve Groeninger, a spokesman for the memorial fund.

Of the 126 officer deaths this year, shooting was the leading cause, followed by traffic-related fatalities, at 49.

The state that saw the most officer deaths was California, with 14, followed be Texas, where 11 such deaths occurred and New York, with nine. Florida followed with six deaths, and Georgia had five, according to the report.

The 15 ambush assaults on police officers this year compares to just five in 2013 and matched 2012 for the highest total since 1995, the report said.

"With the increasing number of ambush-style attacks against our officers, I am deeply concerned that a growing anti-government sentiment in America is influencing weak-minded individuals to launch violent assaults against the men and women working to enforce our laws," said Craig Floyd, chairman and CEO of the memorial fund.

He added in his statement: "We need to tone down the rhetoric and rally in support of law enforcement and against lawlessness."

The ambush assault figure included last week’s attack in New York in which officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were gunned down. Their killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had earlier made threatening posts online and references to the Garner and Brown cases.

The Associated Press