Sessions: ‘Staggering’ 61% rise in police officers killed by felonious acts ‘unacceptable’
Neil W. McCabe
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The country’s top law enforcement officer Monday denounced the increased violence against law enforcement officers detailed in the FBI’s 2016 Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted report.
“Every law enforcement officer goes to work knowing that today might be his or her last, but last year, we saw a staggering 61 percent increase in the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty because of a felony, and on average, more than 150 officers were assaulted in the line of duty every single day,” said Attorney General Jefferson B. “Jeff” Sessions.
“These numbers are as shocking as they are unacceptable,” he said of the FBI report released Monday.
The FBI reported in 2016 there were 66 law enforcement officers killed in line-of-duty incidents as a result of felonious acts – this is a staggering 61 percent increase from 2015, when 41 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents.
Also in the report: 118 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2016 – this is a 37 percent increase from 2015, when 86 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents.
Of the officers killed in 2016, 17 were ambushed in premeditated attacks and three were the victims of unprovoked attacks, the report said.
There was a 14 percent increase in the number of officers assaulted, according to the report: 57,180 officers were victims of line-of-duty assaults, up from 50,212 officers in 2015.
Sessions said he is glad President Donald J. Trump is on the side of law enforcement officers.
“Fortunately we have a president who understands this,” he said. “President Trump ran for office as a law-and-order candidate; now he is governing as a law-and-order president.
One of the first executive orders signed by the president directed the Department of Justice to work to prevent violence against law enforcement officers, he said.
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