U.S. police officer deaths on the decline despite trend in Colorado

The past five weeks saw three law enforcement officers killed in the state of Colorado, but despite the proximity of those deaths, the number of officers killed in the U.S. continues to decline.

So far this year, officer fatalities in the U.S. are down 47 percent — while eight officers have lost their lives in 2018, there were 15 fatalities during the same time period in 2017, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Two of those eight officers were from Colorado. That statistic doesn’t include the death of Douglas County Dep. Zackari Parrish, who died on Dec. 31. Adams County Dep. Heath Gumm was killed on Jan 24 and El Paso County Dep. Micah Flick was killed on Feb. 5.

The numbers illustrate the decline in officer fatalities, but the trend doesn’t look good for the Centennial State. No officers were killed from Jan. 1 to Dec. 28, 2017, but three have been killed since then.

Officer deaths by gunfire, however, are on the rise for 2018. Five of 15 were killed by firearms from Jan. 1 to Feb. 6 last year, but six of eight in the same period this year were caused by firearms. That’s a 20-percent increase, according to the NLEOMF.

Statistics provided by the fund show that 2017 saw the second-lowest number of officer fatalities in the past half-century; only 2013 saw fewer officer deaths, with 116. The number has dropped from the 200s in the 1970s to 128 last year.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office provided information Tuesday on how to donate to Dep. Flick’s family HERE.