“Law enforcement officers have essentially been marginalized and demoralized and cast aside and encouraged not to enforce the law.”
According to an analysis of data collected by the FBI, more police officers were intentionally killed in the line of duty in 2021, President Biden’s first year in office, than any year since 1995.
The FBI’s LEOKA (law enforcement officers killed in action) data found 73 officers were intentionally killed in 2021, as the Heartland Institute pointed out in their analysis of the data, noting, “We found felonious killings of law enforcement officers skyrocketed in 2021, increasing by more than 58.7 percent in a single year. In 2021, 73 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed, compared to 46 in 2020 and 48 in 2019.”
The Heartland Institute reported that in 1995, 74 officers were intentionally killed and that 2011 was the only year between 1995 and 2021 that had more than 70 officers intentionally killed, as 72 officers were killed that year. The Heartland Institute added, “In 2021, 32 officers were feloniously killed in an ambush or unprovoked attack, compared to 10 such killings in 2020 and seven in 2019. … Although more data will need to be provided by the FBI and local agencies before the dramatic increase in felonious police killings can be fully understood, the LEOKA data seem to indicate one of the primary explanations for the increase is a sharp rise in the number of ambushes and unprovoked attacks on police.”