Police Report More Officers are Getting Shot than Ever, Some Blame Pervasive Anti-Cop Rhetoric

 By Yehudit Garmaise

The number of American police officers who were shot in the line of duty in 2021 reached a record high when 346 cops were shot: 63 fatally, and the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) announced that in 2022 the violence launched against cops is not just continuing, but increasing.

National FOP President Patrick Yoes, called the high level of violence directed at police officers “a real crisis,” when he announced that 101 American police officers, including 17 who were fatally wounded, have already been shot  in 2022, which already shows a 43% increase over last year’s data.

“The violence directed at law enforcement officers is unlike anything I’ve seen in my 36 years of law enforcement," Yoes said. "Last year was one of the most dangerous years for law enforcement, with more officers shot in the line of duty since the FOP began recording this data."

Yoes added that the data the FOP has collected so far in 2022 data indicates that "we are outpacing last year’s numbers of officers shot and killed in the line of duty."

Retired NYPD officer Scott Welsh, who lost three fellow police officers who were shot and killed on duty while they were working along side him at the 44th precinct, told Fox News that the anti-police sentiment from the media and online leads to real violence against cops.

“If you think the social media and the media itself, with their anti-police rhetoric over and over again: calling us murderers, racists, and everything else, doesn’t lead to violence against us, you are in denial,” Welsh said.

"It is important to remember that when we look at these numbers, they represent people who are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters," said Yoes, who added that even more than 17 police officers would have perished this year, if not for “dramatic improvements in medical trauma science and anti-ballistic technology."

Of the 101 American police officers who were shot so far this year, 32 officers, five of whom were killed, were shot in ambush-style attacks, reported the FOP, citing a 36% increase in such surprise attacks similar to the one in which perpetrator Lashawn McNeil opened fire on NYPD Officers Wilbert Mora, a 27, and Detective Jason Rivera, 22, who were fatally shot while they were responding to a domestic dispute in Harlem. 

"This violence is completely unacceptable," Yoes said. "It’s a stain on our society, and it must end. 

“It is incumbent upon our elected officials and community leaders to stand up and speak out against the violence against law enforcement officers."