Law-enforcement deaths decline in 2009
124 officers were killed in '09; fewest in U.S. since 1959

Dec. 29, 2009 12:00 AM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Law-enforcement deaths this year dropped to their lowest level since 1959, while the decade of the 2000s was among the safest for officers - despite the deadliest single day for police on Sept. 11, 2001.

The drop in deaths, cited in a police group's report Monday, was tempered by an increase in firearm deaths. In one horrific November shooting, four officers were executed as they discussed their upcoming shift in a Lakewood, Wash., coffee shop.

The figures do not include the death Monday of a Washington state sheriff's deputy who was shot Dec. 21 and taken off life support.
Through Dec. 27, the report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found:

• 124 officers were killed this year, compared with 133 in 2008. The 2009 total represents the fewest line-of-duty deaths since 108 a half-century ago.

• Traffic fatalities fell to 56, compared with 71 a year ago. The report said the decline partly was attributed to "move over" state laws, which require motorists to change lanes to give officers clearance on the side of a road.

• Firearms deaths rose to 48, nine more than in 2008. However, the 39 fatalities in 2008 represented the lowest annual figure in more than five decades.

• Thirty-five states and Puerto Rico had officer fatalities in 2009, with Texas the only state in double figures. Texas had 11 fatalities, followed by Florida, 9; California, 8; and North Carolina and Pennsylvania, 7.

• An average of 162 officers a year died in the 2000s, compared with 160 in the 1990s, 190 in the 1980s and 228 in the 1970s. Seventy-two officers died on Sept. 11.

"To reach a 50-year low in officer deaths is a real credit to the law-enforcement profession and its commitment to providing the best possible training and equipment to our officers," said the Memorial Fund chairman and chief executive officer, Craig Floyd.

"But we cannot allow ourselves to be lulled into a state of complacency. There are nearly 60,000 criminal assaults against our law officers every year in this country, resulting in more than 15,000 injuries. And, over the past decade, more than 1,600 officers have been killed in the line of duty