Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: FEBRUARY 2017 35 Those incidents included five officers killed in am- bush attacks in Dallas (TX) and three in Baton Rouge (LA), spanning 10 days in July. Firearms-related fatalities peaked in 1973 when 156 of- ficers were shot and killed. Since then, the average number of officers killed by gunfire has decreased from 127 per year in the 1970s to 57 per year in the 2000s. Traffic-related fatalities Twenty-eight officers were killed in automobile crashes—an 18 percent de- crease from the 34 killed in 2015. Fifteen officers were struck and killed outside their vehicles this year, a 50 percent increase from 2015 when 10 officers were struck and killed. This year, 10 officers were killed in motorcycle crashes, an increase of 150 percent from the four in 2015. Seven of the traffic- related deaths were the re- sult of an impaired driver. Of the 28 automobile crashes in 2016, seven- teen were multiple-vehicle crashes and 11 were single- vehicle crashes. Traffic-related fatalities decreased during the pre- vious decade (2000-2009), and since 2011 they have fallen to the lowest levels since the 1950s. However, prior to 2016, traffic-re- lated fatalities have been the leading cause of death for officers in 15 of the last 20 years. Other Causes Eighteen officers died from other causes in 2016, including 11 who died from job-related illnesses— mostly heart attacks—while performing their duties. Also included among that number are two offi- cers who died of an illness contracted as a result of rescue and recovery work following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Also, three officers were beaten to death, one officer died from a fall, one officer drowned, one officer was stabbed, and one officer died in an aircraft crash. Officer Fatality Data In 2016, six female offi- cers and 129 male officers were killed in the line of duty. The average age of a fallen officer was 40 years old, with an aver- age length of service of 13 years. On average, a fallen officer had two children. Seventy-two municipal and county officers were killed in the line of duty in 2016, along with 33 who worked for sheriff’s offices, 17 who worked at state law enforcement agencies, six federal offi- cers, four territorial, two university officers and one tribal officer. Visit www.LawMemo- rial.org for more information about law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Above is a collage of all the officers who died in the line of duty in 2016. Courtesy: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund