Pubdate: Fri, 13 Apr 2012
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2012 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact:  http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: Daniel B. Wood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

MODESTO COP KILLING HIGHLIGHTS SPIKE IN VIOLENCE AGAINST POLICE

The number of cops killed on the beat had been declining since the 
1970s and was bound to end, say experts. But the killing of cops in 
Modesto, Calif., and Greenland, N.H., Thursday could point to other trends.

Two high-profile shootings of police officers in small towns - one on 
each coast - are highlighting statistics that show a sharp spike in 
police officer deaths nationwide during the past two years. But 
experts caution against the conclusion that criminals are ramping up 
a new "war on cops," instead suggesting that the statistics merely 
show an end to a 40-year decline in officer fatalities.

Killed Thursday in Greenland, N.H., was Chief Michael Maloney, one 
week short of retirement; four other officers were shot. Also on 
Thursday in Modesto, Calif., a civilian and a sheriff's deputy were 
shot and killed by a homeowner who opened fire to avoid being evicted 
by authorities.

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Last year, 72 officers were killed in the line of duty, up from 41 in 
2008. But the 2011 number is similar to 2001, when 70 officers were 
killed - and it is far below the statistics from the 1970s. In 1973, 
for example, 143 officer deaths were reported.

"Newton's law of criminology states that what goes down must 
eventually go up," says James Alan Fox, a criminologist at 
Northeastern University in Boston. "After that long a decline, it's 
not surprising at all that the number has finally jumped."

While other analysts agree, they add that Thursday's shootings 
highlight other areas of concern.

For instance, the number of assaults against police officers, has 
reached more than 50,000 per year, "and we think that is 
underreported. The FBI thinks that's only half the number," says John 
Firman, director of research for the International Association of 
Chiefs of Police in Alexandria, Va.

His organization last year opened the Center for Prevention of 
Violence Against Police, funded by the US Department of Justice. "We 
are taking an aggressive position against this kind of backlash 
against police in which a bad guy thinks he can just start shooting," 
he says. "We are out to change the police practices and protocols to 
deal with it."

Part of the problem is the so-called war on drugs, suggests Neill 
Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, 
which favors legalizing and regulating drugs. The drug war has led to 
a huge deterioration in the relations between police and the 
community, with police departments becoming more likely to use SWAT 
teams, whether necessary or not, he says. That has heightened the 
tension of drug busts needlessly.

"Law enforcement changed its policies because they got all these 
government grants to obtain paramilitary equipment and then felt 
compelled to use it all the time, even just to serve a warrant," says 
Mr. Franklin. "It has led to lots of unnecessary violence."

In some ways, the growing number of officer deaths is surprising, 
given that more police officers are wearing bulletproof Kevlar vests 
and medical treatments have improved, says Joel Jacobsen, assistant 
attorney general, criminal appeals division for New Mexico, in an e-mail.

"Both of those trends should be dramatically reducing the number of 
fatalities," he says. "So the fact that the number remains roughly 
the same actually suggests an increase in the use of 
potentially-lethal force against officers.

One solution might be new protocols for how to serve warrants, says 
former Maryland police officer Tod Burke, now professor of criminal 
justice at Radford University in Virginia, in an e-mail.

"While these incidents are on the rise, they are not new. Police 
officers have been attacked/shot at for years while serving arrest 
and search warrants, apprehending suspects in a home, etc.," he says. 
"While tragic, sometimes an orange is simply an orange. This may be a 
matter of police policy and revisiting officer safety issues while 
serving warrants."
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