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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