On Wednesday, a group of Republican lawmakers led by Rep. John Katko (R-NY) reportedly sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland addressing the “troubling pattern across the United States” of police officers being violently targeted.
“On Friday, January 21st, while responding to reports of a domestic disturbance, New York Police Department (NYPD) Officers Rivera (22) and Mora (27) were violently attacked by a gunman, killing Officer Rivera and mortally wounding Officer Mora, who succumbed to his injuries on January 25,” they wrote, according to The New York Post.
“Shortly following the attack on these NYPD officers, on Sunday, January 23rd, Harris County Texas Deputy Charles Galloway (47) was ‘brutally murdered’ during a traffic stop. Houston has since been rocked, yet again, by the shooting of three additional officers who were injured responding to a disturbance call.”
According to The Post, “The group noted that the National Fraternal Order of Police documented a 115 percent increase in instances of violence against officers in 2021 than the prior year, marking the highest number of law enforcement ‘intentionally killed since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.’”
“Sadly, this violence is part of an upward national trend. According to the National Fraternal Order of Police, in 2021 there were 346 officers shot in the line of duty, including 63 deaths. Of these, 103 were ‘ambush-style attacks,’ which increased 115% over the prior year. Data compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also showed a 48.7% increase in 2021 of officer killings, totaling 73 deaths from ‘firearms, vehicles, knives, and other personal weapons,’” the group added.
“As the Attorney General, it is incumbent upon you to leverage the resources of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to help promote and protect the safety and wellbeing of your federal, state, and local law enforcement partners across the United States,” they said. “The above data is contextualized by a nationwide crisis of surging violence against law enforcement officers and the public they serve.”
