By Joanna Putman
Police1
WASHINGTON — The number of officers shot in the line of duty in 2023 is the highest recorded in the history of the Fraternal Order of Police’s data collection, a news release states.
“Last year, over 330 police officers were shot in the line of duty,” Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, stated. “With the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and after so many Americans have seen the tragic consequences of the defund the police movement, it was our hope that these numbers would be a high-water mark. We were wrong.
In 2023, 378 officers were shot, 46 of whom were killed, according to the report. Ambush-style attacks on officers represented 138 of the shootings, including 20 that were fatal.
“Many will often look at this data and just see numbers, but we MUST remember that they represent heroes—fathers, mothers, sons and daughters,” Yoes stated. “This scale of violence against our officers is horrifying and simply unsustainable. It is no wonder that our profession is facing a recruitment and retention crisis.”
Yoes’ statement calls for voters to turn to elected officials and “speak out against the violence against law enforcement officers.” He specifically highlights the Protect and Serve Act, a bill introduced to Congress in February2023, to establish a new criminal offense for “knowingly assaulting a law enforcement officer and causing serious bodily injury (or attempting to do so) in circumstances that affect interstate commerce.” The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee but has not advanced beyond that point.