(NewsCore) - The number of US law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty spiked 37 percent -- from 117 to 160 -- in 2010, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday tracking police deaths. There was also a 20 percent increase in shooting deaths among federal, state, and local police. A total of 59 officers were killed by gunfire this year, up from last year’s figure of 49, according to data compiled by the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Ten of those officers shot to death were killed in five separate cluster killings, including a shooting in August that saw Hoonah, Alaska’s police force cut in half when two of its officers were gunned down while chatting at a residence in the small village.
Traffic-related deaths were still the number one cause of officer fatalities for the 13th consecutive year, but there were 73 traffic fatalities in 2010 compared to 51 in 2009, according to the report.
The data also showed that more officers, 18, were killed in Texas than in any other state, followed by California with 11 deaths and Illinois with 10.
The increase follows a two year decline in officer fatalities, with 2009’s toll marking a 50-year low.
“A more brazen, cold-blooded criminal element is on the prowl in America, and they don’t think twice about killing a cop,” the nonprofit’s chairman Craig W. Floyd said in a statement, adding that the nation’s police forces may be spread too thin.
“Our law enforcement officers are being asked to do more today with less, and it is putting their lives at risk. In addition to their conventional crimefighting responsibilities, our law officers are on the front lines in the war against terror here at home,” Floyd said.
