‘Historic’ 346 officers shot in line of duty in 2021: National Fraternal Order of Police
‘Ambush-style attacks’ against officers were up 115% in 2021 compared to 2020
By Audrey Conklin | Fox News | Published January 4, 2022
A “historic” 346 police officers were shot in the line of duty in 2021 — 63 of whom were killed, according to the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which represents more than 346,000 U.S. law enforcement officers.
The number of officers shot in the line of duty last year is up from 312 officers shot in 2020, 47 of whom were killed, and 293 shot in 2019, 50 of whom were killed, according to an FOP analysis.
“As we have said before, the recent erosion of respect for law enforcement and anti-police rhetoric has fueled more aggression towards police officers than what has been seen in previous years,” FOP President Patrick Yoes told Fox News in a statement.
The five states with the highest numbers of officers shot in the line of duty were Texas (43), Illinois (29), California (23), Georgia (19) and Florida (17).
Yoes encouraged Congress to pass the “Protect and Serve Act” of 2021 that would make it a federal crime to knowingly cause or attempt to cause injury to an officer.
Meanwhile, police killed 1,117 civilians in 2021 — down from 1,127 in 2020 but up from 1,072 in 2019, according to the Mapping Police Violence database.
