A report from the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) found that 378 police officers were shot in 2023.
The number is a 60% increase from 2018 and a 14% increase from 2022.
Forty-six officers were killed by gunfire in 2023.
“There have been 115 ambush-style attacks on law enforcement officers this year,” the report says. “These ambush-style attacks have resulted in 138 officers shot, 20 of whom were killed.”
“Last year, over 330 police officers were shot in the line of duty. 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,” said FOP President Patrick Yoes. “We were wrong.”
“Thankfully, because of dramatic improvements in medical trauma science and anti-ballistic technology, the lethality of these attacks has been reduced and only 46 of the officers shot in the line of duty were killed,” he continued.
Yoes added, “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.”
“Truthfully, the violence against those sworn to protect and serve is beyond unacceptable; it’s a stain on our society, and it must end,” he said. “It is incumbent upon our elected officials and community leaders to stand up, support our heroes, and speak out against the violence against law enforcement officers.”
The National FOP report on officers shot in 2023 has just been released and the results are horrifying!
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) January 2, 2024
378 officers shot, highest number since we started tracking the data.
60% increase in officers shot since 2018.
115 ambush attacks that resulted in 138 officers shot.
46… pic.twitter.com/aR2vOeyi2b
American Faith reported that thousands of police officers across the country have moved out of blue cities.
Throughout 2023, 2,516 members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) left their jobs.
Many police officers stated they are overworked and underpaid in the city and have left for better opportunities.
One of the officers told the New York Post that they have been “working an average of about 13 to 14 hours a day with a lot of the protests happening in the city. Enough is enough. I’ll have maybe one day off for the week and I’m so tired from work I don’t want to do anything.”
