Chattanoogans know all too well the danger that our law enforcement officers can face on any given day.
It was less than nine months ago that Chattanooga Police Sgt. James Timothy "Tim" Chapin was gunned down while courageously responding to a robbery in Brainerd.
Tragically, his death was not isolated, as shown by some recent numbers about the deadly peril to those who protect us from criminals. The nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund released alarming statistics on officers at all levels of government who died in the line of duty in 2011.
Here are a few of those statistics:
• Nationwide, 173 officers died in the line of duty this year. That is a 13 percent increase from 2010.
• In Tennessee, seven officers died.
• The figure in Georgia was 10.
• Alabama suffered three officer deaths.
• Hit hardest were Florida, with 14 officer deaths; Texas, with 13; New York, with 11; and California, with 10.
If there is any slight comfort to be taken from those newly released figures, it is that officer deaths over the past decade are somewhat lower than they were back in the 1970s. In only five of the past 11 years did police deaths in the line of duty exceed 160. But the number of annual officer deaths in the 1970s was regularly higher than 200.
All innocent human life is precious and deserves protection. But a violent attack on a police officer is an attack not only on that individual but on civil society itself.
We gratefully acknowledge the brave efforts of law enforcement officers who willingly put themselves between criminals and those whom criminals seek to harm.