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I was apparently not correct in my original assertion. It appears that about half the officers killed in the line of duty are murdered (Assault, gunfire, assault by vehicle):

Here are the stats for 2014, so far:

Line of Duty Deaths: 64

Assault: 1
Automobile accident: 15
Fire: 1
Gunfire: 27
Gunfire (Accidental): 1
Heart attack: 6
Motorcycle accident: 2
Struck by vehicle: 3
Vehicle pursuit: 2
Vehicular assault: 6

Read more: http://www.odmp.org

Of course, they don’t say how many of the officers killed by gunfire are actually shot by a perpetrator, while on duty. I suspect they bury suicides in there somewhere.

Of course, they don’t say how many of the officers killed by gunfire are actually shot by a perpetrator, while on duty. I suspect they bury suicides in there somewhere.

Hard to say. When a cop is shot and killed by a perp on duty, it's almost always national news. I don't recall this happening almost every week on average. Additionally, I'd suspect given the huge number of LEOs across the country, suicides would be much higher than 27 so far.

Could be true. I'm sure the real numbers are out there somewhere.

Anyways, I was curious about some numbers so I looked at cab drivers. There are about 780,000 cops in the United States (2006) and as of 2012, about 233,000 cab drivers. About 30-40 cab drivers are murdered each year, which would make their murder rate much higher than cops. Yet when a cab driver gets murdered, it's rarely more than regional news.

I don’t think those numbers are sorted to filter “friendly fire” - one of the biggest killers of cops.

Of course, they don’t say how many of the officers killed by gunfire are actually shot by a perpetrator, while on duty. I suspect they bury suicides in there somewhere.

Wrong. Educate yourself and link onto each officer that died by gunfire. They give a summary of events.

Of course, they don’t say how many of the officers killed by gunfire are actually shot by a perpetrator, while on duty. I suspect they bury suicides in there somewhere

And friendly fire. Some departments seem pretty good at throwing a lot of indiscriminate lead in a "shoot out"

I try to keep a respectful mind frame towards cops, they are on the job 24/7 and put do risk life and limb to keep us safe. However there is no limit on their authority if they want to go too far. I am supposed to submit to whatever they want and if I don't I'm risking my life. I can only submit and then hope I can redress my grievances later. That gives an enormous potential for abuses of power.

I was watching an old episode of Hawaii 5-0; forget the name of the episode but it was season 1. Danny shoots a punk who was breaking into a car after a long chase. The whole episode was about having to find the punks gun or Danny was going to be in big trouble. Ha! Who cares, now a days, the revenuers have every right to fill you full of holes. Ask Randy Weaver. We shouldn't feel lucky that a boy scout troop escaped with their lives after an encounter with border patrol. As citizens of a constitutional republic we ought to have the right to tell the authorities to stop if they are violating our rights. I'm also not above thinking that some swat teams might carry a baggie of evidence to “discover” should they get the wrong house.

I shouldn't have to worry that the police will kick in my door in the dead of night with more authorization to kill than Marines hunting terrorists. As decent law abiding citizens we are figured to be guilty until proven innocent. What good are rights if all you can do is beg for justice after the fact?