LEO Homicides Committed With Guns From 1965-2014

By Dean Weingarten

A recent op-ed by Heather Mac Donald in the Wall Street Journal claimed that homicides of police had increased dramatically from 2013 to 2014. The datum was cited in an article claiming that “Gun violence in particular is spiraling upward in cities across America” noting that homicides of police had increased by 89%. That is factually correct, but is a classic example of how to use statistics — particularly percentages — to mislead . . .

As she points out,

Murders of officers jumped 89% in 2014, to 51 from 27.

Sources can differ. But the numbers cited are close to those that appear in the Officer Down Memorial Web Page, odmp.org. The numbers of LEO homicides is, thankfully, extremely small and, as such, can and do vary widely from year to year. You can see from the chart above that the raw numbers of homicides of police committed with firearms rose from 63-64 in the middle 1960’s to 140+ in the early 1970’s, then gradually dropping down to the present numbers of about 47 per year. Before last year’s uptick, 2013 was the lowest number of law officer homicides committed with firearms …read more

Source:: Truth About Guns