A study finds 151 local, state and federal law officers were killed in the line of duty nationwide during 2006 — and none of them were from Iowa. Craig Floyd, chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, says over the years, many Iowans who wore badges made the ultimate sacrifice.
Throughout history, Floyd says 145 officers have been killed in the line of duty in Iowa, which puts the state at the lower end of the spectrum and shows Iowa has a very good safety record. By comparison, ten times as many law officers, more than 14-hundred, have died in California’s history. This year, California had the most fatalities with 17, followed by Virginia with ten, New York and Texas both lost nine, and Florida and Illinois had eight each. Five of the 151 were women.
Floyd says many more law officers were killed in the wrecks of their squad cars this year than in shootings. Floyd says traffic-related incidents were the number-one cause of death for the ninth straight year, surpassing shootings. To put it in perspective, 73 officers were killed in traffic-related accidents during the year while 54 were shot and killed. In some instances, he says officers refuse to wear their seat belts because they fear getting hung up should they need to get out of the car quickly.
Floyd says sometimes holstered guns get caught up in the seat belt system the way they’re configured. He says there needs to be a closer look at safety restraint systems for law enforcement vehicles to see if there’s a more convenient and more effective way to provide more safety without the risk of entanglement. For more information on the study, surf to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund website: “www.nleomf.com”.
Related web sites:
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund website