The FBI’s unified crime report for 2016 shows that 57,180 police officers were assaulted and 118 were killed in the line of duty.
Nearly 80 percent “of officers who were assaulted in the line of duty were attacked with personal weapons (hands, fists, or feet).” Just over four percent were assaulted with firearms, and just under two percent were assaulted “with knives or other cutting instruments.”
According to the FBI report, 31.4 percent of the officers attacked with “hands, fists, or feet,” were injured, 11.9 percent of the officers attacked with firearms were injured, and nearly 11 percent of the officers attacked “with knives or other cutting instruments” were injured.
The most common time of assaults on officers was “12:01 a.m. to 2 a.m,” which is when 13.2 percent of the assaults occurred.
Over 32 percent of assaulted officers “were responding to disturbance calls” when attacked,;”15.6 percent were attempting other arrests;” and “12.6 percent were handling, transporting, or maintaining custody of prisoners.”
Of the 118 officers who were killed in the line of duty, 66 died due to “felonious incidents.” Sixty-two of these officers were killed with firearms, and 19 of the deceased officers were within five feet of their attacker when attacked. “Forty-five of the alleged offenders [who killed police] had prior criminal records.”
Fifty-two officers died in the line of duty in non-felonious incidents. These include patrol car accidents, being struck by vehicles while standing outside their patrol cars, motorcycle accidents, and crossfire, among other reasons.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.