Tragically, Georgia ranks fifth in the nation for law enforcement deaths. Nationally, 162 federal, state and local law enforcement officers died on duty in 2010, representing more than a 30 percent increase over 2009, according to numbers compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit that tracks police deaths. Here are some other statistics:
- On average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in the United States every 53 hours. Since the first known line-of-duty death in 1792, nearly 19,000 U.S. law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice.
- Following a two year decline, law enforcement fatalities in 2010 spiked to 162. This was an increase of nearly forty percent compared to last year, when 117 officers were killed in the line of duty.
- In Georgia the average age of the officers killed in 2010 was 38; the average length of their law enforcement service was nearly eight years, and on average each officer left behind two children.
- Georgia had four fatalities in 2009, and nine in 2010
- Care for Cops has provided financial assistance to over twenty-nine families since 2004.
