Four Philadelphia police officers have died on the job in the past year. Assaults on officers for the first half of 2008 are up 19 percent compared to last year. And Division of Public Safety officials say the number of assaults on campus police has been rising.
The death of Philadelphia Police Sgt. Patrick McDonald - who was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 23 and whose funeral was held Tuesday - is the most recent incident in a trend of violence against police in the city.
Since September 2007, 10 Philadelphia police officers have been shot on the job, including McDonald and three others who were also killed, Philadelphia Police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said.
"It's certainly unprecedented in law enforcement to have so many officers killed in the line of duty in so short a time period," he said.
The number of assaults on Philadelphia Police officers is up this year as well.
According to Vanore, 1,003 assaults on officers were reported through July 1 of this year, up from 890 at that point in 2007. Year-to-date figures were not available.
Increased violence has also been reported against Penn Police officers.
Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said there were 15 assaults on Penn Police officers in 2007, and there have already been 13 assaults on officers thus far this year.
"It's a big concern," she said, adding that, until recently, this level of violence was "literally unheard of."
Despite the rise in violence against police, violent crime in the Penn patrol zone this year was down 41 percent compared with 2007 as of the end of August.
Murders in Philadelphia are significantly down this year, with 245 reported in the city as of yesterday, compared with 306 during the same time period in 2007.
While both Penn and Philadelphia police officers will continue to receive the same training, the recent violence "definitely makes the officers out there more aware," Vanore said.
Rush agreed, saying that Penn police officers are trained to avoid getting too comfortable with their jobs.
"The biggest concern for officer safety is getting into a zone where they think it's routine," Rush said. "Every day that our police officers stop pedestrians on the street, or do a routine car stop . they never know."
McDonald was shot as he followed a man on foot after a routine traffic stop.
Rush added that Penn police officers also receive extensive training on how to retain their weapon in an attack situation, since officers who are injured are often shot with their own weapons.
Across the country, however, the number of police officers killed in the line of duty is down from last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
In 2008, 103 officers have been killed on the job, a 27-percent decrease from the same time last year.
"It's definitely a hazardous occupation and everyone knows that when they sign up for it, but facing this kind of violence is never easy," Vanore said.
