There was a record-breaking number of law enforcement officers shot in the line of duty in 2023, according to report from the National Fraternal Order of Police.
In 2023, there were 378 officers shot, a 60% increase since the FOP began tracking data back in 2018. The data also showed that 46 police officers were killed. “These horrifying statistics are a grim reminder of the War on Cops in this country. A stain on our society,” the FOP said.
“Last year, over 330 police officers were shot in the line of duty. With the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and after so many Americans have seen the tragic consequences of the defund the police movement, it was our hope that these numbers would be a high-water mark,” FOP President Patrick Yoes said. “We were wrong.”
The National FOP report on officers shot in 2023 has just been released and the results are horrifying!
378 officers shot, highest number since we started tracking the data.
60% increase in officers shot since 2018.
115 ambush attacks that resulted in 138 officers shot.
46… pic.twitter.com/aR2vOeyi2b
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) January 2, 2024
There were 62 officers killed in 2022. Yoes said that fatalities were down due to improvements in medical trauma science and anti-ballistic technology.
“Many will often look at this data and just see numbers, but we must remember that they represent heroes — fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. This scale of violence against our officers is horrifying and simply unsustainable,” Yoes said. “It is no wonder that our profession is facing a recruitment and retention crisis. What father or mother would want their child to become an officer knowing the dangers they face every day?”
The FOP also said that police were targeted in ambush-style attacks. “There have been 115 ambush-style attacks on law enforcement officers this year. These ambush-style attacks have resulted in 138 officers shot, 20 of whom were killed,” the report said.
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The report did not measure the amount of times police officers were shot at but were not struck. At the end the report featured the names and pictures of all the officers who were killed by gunfire this year.
Yoes wants Congress to pass the Protect and Serve Act, which “establishes a new criminal offense for knowingly assaulting a law enforcement officer and causing serious bodily injury (or attempting to do so).”
“Truthfully, the violence against those sworn to protect and serve is beyond unacceptable; it’s a stain on our society, and it must end,” Yoes said. “It is incumbent upon our elected officials and community leaders to stand up, support our heroes, and speak out against the violence against law enforcement officers.”
Anti-police sentiment spread through the United States following the death of George Floyd in May 2020. Some cities moved to defund their police departments, but later back tracked as violent crime increased.