Media Only Tells Half the Story

The headline “Violence Against Law Enforcement Officers Up Sharply” was recently featured on Drudge Report.  Once again the media gets it wrong and only tells half the story.  MyFox out of New York recently reported that:

The number of law enforcement officers who were killed nationwide has jumped nearly 17 percent.

Newly released statistics from the FBI show that 56 officers were murdered in the line of duty last year. That is a jump from 48 in the previous year.

This is pretty shoddy reporting.  The number of officers killed due to violence is only up sharply if you compare it with 2008 and 2009, which were both two of the safest years on record for police officers.  The fact is that officer murders have been on a steady trend downward over the last 25 years.

On the other hand officer deaths due to car accidents on a steady upward trend.  Studies have shown that 40% of officers involved in fatal accidents were not wearing their seatbelts.  Police officers will justify all kinds of excessive force and rights violations claiming it is necessary for officer safety, but they will not do something as simple as buckling their seatbelt, when that is much more likely to save their lives.