Brian Johnson

February, 2010

Last year, across the nation, America’s law enforcement experienced a decline in officers being killed in the line of duty. The preliminary figures from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) show this to be a seven- percent decline from 133 in 2008 to 124 in 2009. That is the fewest line-of-duty deaths since 1959, when there were 108. However, there is a much more disturbing statistic that rose in 2009.

The number of officers shot and killed rose 23% in 2009. This magnifies the outrageous ruling of the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, which overturned the conviction of a dangerous parolee arrested by LAPD officers for being in possession of military-style body armor. The 2-1 decision opined that the law was unconstitutional because it was vague and didn’t provide fair notice to parolees. The only thing that comes to mind is judicial arrogance and justices who are out of touch with reality, plain and simple. Your LAPPL Board of Directors is actively working with other POAs, elected officials and the Attorney General’s office to have this ruling appealed to the Supreme Court and to draft specific legislation which will make it easier for inept justices to apply the law as intended.

The preliminary 2009 law enforcement fatality data was released by the NLEOMF in conjunction with Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), a non-profit organization that provides critical assistance to the surviving family members and loved ones of officers killed in the line of duty.

These statistics are preliminary and do not represent a final or complete list of individual officers who will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial for 2009. To review the full report, “A Tale of Two Trends: Overall Fatalities Fall, Fatal Shootings on the Rise,” visit www.LawMemorial.org/ResearchBulletin or www.LAPD.com/assets/Officer_fatalities_2009_end_year_report.pdf.

Stay safe and feel free to contact me at brianjohnson@lappl.org.