Increase in USA law enforcement fatalities

This link relates to a serious increase in the deaths of law enforcement officers in USA during 2010 http://tinyurl.com/23kbmmv.  

In total a staggering 162 officers died during the course of their duties.  A total of 73 officers died as a result of traffic incidents 16 of which were struck by vehicles whilst outside their police vehicle.  a total of 61 officers died from firearms incidents with an astonishing 20% being multiple fatality shootings with five incidents alone accounting for the deaths of ten officers. The report gives statistical details of how the officers were killed and has a memoriam section remembering a number of the officers.

 

I recall the four officers shot and killed in late 2009 in Lakewood Washington State while they drank coffee in a restaurant.  I remember this as I recall doing just the same in Green Bay Wisconsin with my friends Lt Bill Bongle and Officer Dave Schmitz.  Like the Lakewood officers we were sat in uniform and Bill and Dave wore their protective vests.  This is something that cops all over the world do without a thought that someone will walk in and shoot them.

 

The sad events in Arizona have raised the fear that there are right wing activists who are ready and willing to fight the state, and cops are easy targets.  Of the officers killed by shooting in 2010 twelve were killed in ambush style attacks.  Only a day ago I was sent a training video from May of 2010 in West Memphis that showed two officers making a routine stop when a young boy gets out of the vehicle and murders the two officers.  The man giving the commentary is a police Chief and the father of one of the two officers. The boy and his father, who was driving the vehicle, were known as 'Sovereign Citizens'.  These are people who do not recognise the government’s authority to impose laws or taxes.  These are extremists who appear to be waging a war on the US government and authority and they appear to be a derivative of the Posse Comitatus movement that still exists today.

 

The irony of this is that the Posse Comitatus practice can be traced back to medieval times in the UK.  During the 1800s Magistrates had the power by ancient statute to 'raise the power of the county' against sudden commotions.  In practice the Posse Comitatus would consist of loyal and trustworthy farmers and gentry. 

 

The Posse Comitatus developed to the point where they became recognised as Special Constables recruited largely from the 'propertied classes’.  Mobilisation was generally as a result of an emergency, for example, 900 Specials were raised in 1810 to prevent disturbances in London as a result of the incarceration of Sir Francis Burdett.  The Specials remained on duty for ten days.Sadly, the Posse Comitatus of today dishonors those people by twisting their good name and attacking the state in another continent.

 

Irony in the extreme