A police officer was killed almost every five days in 2021, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a recent interview. Eight of those deaths were Georgia officers.
“Violence against law enforcement in this country is one of the biggest phenomena that I think doesn’t get enough attention,” Wray told CBS News in an interview that aired Sunday night.
Earlier that weekend, four Georgia officers were assaulted while on the job, sending two to the hospital. While the spike in violent crimes has made the headlines including in Atlanta, those wearing the badge have become even more vulnerable, according to law enforcement leaders.
“Some of it is tied to the violent crime problem as a whole,” Wray said, adding that he was alarmed at how many officers who died while on duty last year “were killed through things like being ambushed or shot while out on patrol.
“Wearing the badge shouldn’t make you a target.”
In 2021, eight Georgia officers were killed in the line of duty, up from seven the previous two years, according to the Officers Down Memorial Page, which tracks law enforcement deaths. Of the eight officers killed last year, five were shot, one was stabbed, one was struck by a vehicle and another was dragged by a vehicle during a traffic stop, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Additionally, dozens of officers have died from the coronavirus, but those are not counted as line-of-duty deaths.
Nationwide, 142 officers died in the line of duty in 2021, not including those whose deaths were attributed to medical conditions, according to data compiled by Officers Down. That was up from 103 the previous year.
On Nov. 8, Georgia officers from separate agencies died days after being shot while responding to domestic calls, the AJC previously reported. Jackson County Deputy Lena Nicole Marshall and Henry County Officer Paramhans Desai likely hadn’t crossed paths but died hours apart.
“Officer Desai and Deputy Marshall are patrolling the streets of heaven together,” Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said in a social media post.
Barely three weeks later, Clayton County Field Training Officer Henry Laxson was one of four people killed, including the shooter, at a home in Rex. Officers were investigating reports of a shooting when a suspect fired at officers.
So far this year, one Georgia officer has died while on the job. On March 30, Investigator Donald Richard Crooms with the Houston County District Attorney’s Office was killed in a car crash. Crooms, 56, had served in law enforcement for 36 years, according to his obituary.
Though the one Georgia officer’s death this year wasn’t the result of violence, there have been several other acts of violence against officers.
In February, Atlanta Police Officer David Rodgers, an 11-year veteran of the department and member of its gang unit, was trying to arrest a suspect when he was shot six times and seriously injured, police said.
“This department will not be deterred,” Deputy Chief Darin Schierbaum said after the shooting. “What happened today is the challenge that we are against here in Atlanta and in cities across the country. Police officers are being assaulted at record levels across the country.”
Last week, the shooting that injured Rodgers again made news when suspect Christian Eppinger was granted $400,000 bond. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis reassured the public that Eppinger, despite having been granted bond, will not be released due to a hold imposed by the Superior Court following his probation revocation for a 2016 series of violent felonies. After hearing new evidence, a Fulton judge raised the bond to $2 million.
Most recently, four Gainesville police officers were assaulted in two separate incidents, Chief Jay Parrish said in a social media post. The assaults came within hours of Wray’s interview being televised.
In one incident, two female officers were physically assaulted by a juvenile and required treatment at a local hospital, Parrish. While responding to another call, two other officers were beaten by a suspect. Those officers also required medical treatment.
“The spike in violence against law enforcement, both nationwide and locally, should be alarming to all,” Parrish said in a social media post. “Our men and women put on their uniform each with the idea of serving to make our community a safer and better place. I pray for our officers daily. This is just an example where a regular workday can turn tragic for those wearing the badge.”
OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY
2022: 40 in the U.S., 1 in Georgia
2021: 142 in the U.S., 8 in Georgia
2020: 103 in the U.S., 7 in Georgia
Note: Does not include those whose deaths were attributed to medical conditions, including the coronavirus
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