For over a year, we’ve been calling attention to the disturbing disconnect between declining crime statistics and rising assaults on police officers. Now comes news that these assaults are up dramatically for the first week of 2012. Twelve serious assaults occurred in this year’s first week, compared to two during the same week in 2011, and again two in 2010.

It’s too early to draw any conclusions from these numbers, but it is nevertheless a disturbing trend. We pointed out last month that assaults on LAPD officers in 2011 were up 26.7 percent compared with 2010. Chief Beck has noted that as assaults on police officers increase, so do the number of officer-involved shootings.

The increased violence toward officers is a reminder of the dangers they face every day. And although overall crime rates may be falling, the rise in these assaults should concern the public as a whole because an assault on the peace keepers of our society is an assault on society itself.

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