Richard Roberts, spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations, told
MSNBC
, "It's not a fluke. There's a perception among officers in the field that there's a war on cops going on."
On Monday, three officers were shot — two fatally wounded, and one injured — while serving an aggravated battery warrant at a home in
St. Petersburg, Fla.
On Sunday, four officers were shot at a
Detroit Police precinct
; two
Kitsap County (Wash.) Sheriff's
deputies were shot at a Walmart while responding to a call reporting a suspicious person; and police officers in
Indianapolis
and
Lincoln City, Ore.,
were critically injured in shootings during traffic stops.
As of Jan. 24, officer fatalities have been recorded in eight states, including multiple deaths in Florida (5), Texas (2), and Ohio (2). Florida and Texas were among the top five states leading officer deaths in 2010 (along with California, Illinois, and Georgia).
"The devastating spike in law enforcement officer fatalities in 2010 has tragically continued in the first month of 2011," according to Craig W. Floyd, chairman and CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. "I have never seen anything like it. The violent events of the past 24 hours in Florida, Michigan, Indiana, Oregon and Washington have been detrimental to America's peace officers, taking the lives of two and injuring several others. We must do everything in our power to stop these senseless and heinous crimes against our law enforcement personnel."
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's preliminary "
2010 End of Year Officer Fatality Report
," officer fatalities reached 162, a nearly 40 percent increase from the 117 in 2009. Of the 162 officers killed in the line of duty, 61 were shot — a 24 percent increase from 2009. Tragically, the trend continued with 14 officer deaths in January, 10 of which resulted from shootings accounting for a 40 percent increase compared to the same period in 2010.