More than 150 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty nationwide during 2006 ? including seven from Maryland, according to an annual report released Wednesday.
The report of two nonprofit organizations that track officer fatalities says traffic-related deaths of officers have jumped dramatically, while shooting fatalities dropped.
A total of 151 federal, state and local law enforcement officers were killed in 2006, according to the report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the Concerns of Police Survivors.
California had the most fatalities with 17, the report states.
“Our families worry,” said Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police President Paul Blair Jr. “But if the average officer worried about getting killed, he would never come to work. It takes a special breed to put on the uniform every day.”
For the ninth straight year, traffic-related incidents claimed the lives of more officers, with 73 deaths, than shootings (54 deaths) or any other cause, the report states.
Blair said police crashes are sad but inevitable, because citizens want quick responses to crimes in progress.
“I don?t think the average citizen wants a officer to say, ?I?m going to drive really slow. I?m sorry I couldn?t catch the bad guy,? ” Blair said. “It?s a shame, but I don?t think you could ever make it so officers don?t have accidents.”
Two of the seven deaths to Maryland officers were of correctional officers who were killed by prisoners.
Correctional Officer Jeffery Allan Wroten was shot to death Jan. 27 and Officer David McGuinn was stabbed to death July 25.
Prison spokeswoman Maj. Priscilla Doggett said the deaths were tragedies.
“The loss of officers Wroten and McGuinn within six months of each other was a tragic and unprecedented event in the history of our agency,” she said. “But correctional staff have pulled together and supported each other to deal with the losses and to continue to perform their jobs in a professional manner.”
OFFICERS DOWN
Maryland officers killed this year in the line of duty:
» Officer Jeffery Allan Wroten, Maryland Division of Correction, Jan. 27
» Officer Russell Anthony Hamer, Baltimore County Police Department, Feb. 4
» Officer George T. Arrington, Baltimore County Police Department, March 7
» Officer Anthony A. Byrd, Baltimore Police Department, May 19
» Officer David McGuinn, Maryland Division of Correction, July 25
» Cpl. Robert T. Krauss, Maryland Transportation Authority Police, Sept. 1
» Deputy First Class William H. Beebee, Harford County Sheriff?s Office, Nov. 28
