National Police Week 2022 runs from Sunday, May 15 through Saturday, May 21.
The week occurs every year in May and began in 1962, when President Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls, as National Police Week. The weeks pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, in 2021, the number of officers who died in the line of duty nationally was 617. Mississippi lost seven officers. For the year-to-date in 2022, the total number of officer deaths nationally is 102 with Mississippi losing one officer.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations released a report in October of 2021, on the statistics of officers assaulted and killed in the line of duty. The report found an increase of 51 percent of officers killed in 2021 over the same time period in 2020.
According to FBI findings, a total of 60,105 officers were assaulted in 2020 with more than 40 killed. The 60,105 was an increase of 4,071 from 2019. The FBI gathered reports from 9,895 law enforcement agencies across the country. According to findings from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF), from June 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the subsequent protests, the percentage of officers retiring or quitting had increased by more than 18% over 2019.
In a different report from LELDF, statistics showed that with less policing and increase in murders occurred. Following the sudden drop in officers and less policing such as traffic stops, searches and arrests, 2020 saw in increase of 25% in murders, the largest single year increase on record and the highest since 1995 nationally.
Historically, this trend holds true. After in ACLU lawsuit limited Chicago police’s ability to make stops and searches, murders in the city increased 58% as street stops fell 82% in 2016. In Baltimore, the constant hostility toward police officers from then prosecutor Marilyn Mosby, demoralized officers and deterred active policing. As arrests fell in Baltimore in 2015, murders rose by more than 55%.
Locally, events for National Police Week include the 2022 Blue Thunder Ride sponsored by Southaven’s Southern Thunder Harley Davidson Saturday, May 21 beginning at 9 a.m. The ride will include a stop at Coldwater Police Department at 11 a.m. by the SonSeekers. The public is encouraged to attend.
