According to a new report from the FBI, the number of police officers killed in the line of duty declined in 2005 compared with 2004, and was 22% less than the number killed in 2001. Fifty-five law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in 2005, 57 in 2004, and 70 in 2001. The South had the largest number of police officers killed, almost three times more than any of the other regions in the country. Twenty-eight officers were killed in the South, 10 in the Midwest, 10 in the West, and 5 in the Northeast.
(Law Enforcement Officers Feloniously Killed and Assaulted 2005, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Oct. 30, 2006). DPIC note: during this same period of time (2001-05), there has been a decline in the number of death sentences, executions, and size of death row. The South, the region with the most police officers killed, is responsible for about 80% of the executions in the country since 1976. The Northeast, the region with the fewest police officers killed, has had less than 1% of the country’s executions. See Deterrence and DPIC’s report, On the Front Line.

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