Police Officers ‘Keenly Aware’ They Are Targets for Violence

The shootings of police officers in Texas and Missouri on Sunday were the latest in what law enforcement officials say is an alarming spike in ambush-style attacks.

One-third of police officers shot to death on the job this year were purposely targeted by their assailant, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The San Antonio detective was writing a traffic ticket in his squad car Sunday morning outside police headquarters when he was shot to death. A St. Louis police sergeant who was shot twice in the face Sunday evening while he sat in traffic in a marked police vehicle is expected to survive.

Police officers were also shot and injured during traffic stops in Sanibel, Florida, and Gladstone, Missouri, on Sunday night, but authorities have not suggested those were targeted attacks.

“Officers are at tremendous and growing risk; they’re being targeted because of the uniform they wear and the job they do,” said Craig W. Floyd, president of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

San Antonio Detective Benjamin Marconi was the 60th officer shot to death this year, compared to 41 in all of 2015, and the 20th to die in an ambush-style attack, compared to eight last year, Floyd said.

This year’s targeted killings are the most since 1995, Floyd said. In fact, Marconi’s was the fourth targeted slaying of an officer this month: On Nov. 2, two Iowa officers were killed in separate but related attacks. And on Nov. 10, a Pennsylvania officer was targeted as he responded to a domestic disturbance.

The worst single attack was in July, when a black military veteran killed five white officers at a protest in Dallas — the deadliest day for American law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001. Ten days later, a former Marine killed three Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officers.

“It is unusual, alarming and a real problem,” Floyd said, adding that 44 officers have been killed in targeted attacks in the past three years.

An ambush-style attack does not necessarily involve someone lying in wait for police officers; it’s any shooting designed to catch police off-guard and put them at a disadvantage, Floyd said.

“There usually is an element of surprise and concealment involved,” he said, and it’s unprovoked.

Police have been killed while writing reports, like Marconi was, or eating in restaurants. They’ve responded to 911 calls, only to have people shoot them as they get out of their cars. And in the Dallas shooting, they were targeted by someone in a building.

“In all the cases, the officers were essentially assassinated before they had any contact with the suspect or placed that suspect in jeopardy,” said Nick Breul, the Memorial Fund’s director of officer safety and wellness.