saying two brave men won t be going home to their loved ones tonight and for that there is no justificatio justification. the officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day and they deserve our own respect and gratitude every single day. reject violence and turn towards healing through prayer, patience, and sympathy. all right. thank you very much for sharing those thoughts with us in honolulu. as we re waiting for this press conference to begin, let me just bring back in tom fuentes, who we have been talking to this afternoon, to talk a little bit more about how this all works is and these ambush killings. tom, we re waiting for this to
scrambling for answers right now following four high-profile ambush killings. colorado prison chief tom clements, texas prosecutor mike mcclelland and west virginia sheriff eugene crumb. is there a link between them? are these random acts or are law enforcement officials being targeted as part of a larger conspiracy? the officer down memorial page website says crimes are up 29% this year. the most recent was eric smith shot and killed this week while interviewing a murder suspect. ambush is the single biggest threat to law enforcement. 15 police officers were killed in ambushes each year from 2009 to 2011. it s already up to 15 for this year. of the 543 law enforcement officials killed in the line of duty from 2002 to 2011, more than 23% were ambushed. want to bring in alex manning, who is also a former police officer.
law enforcement officials scrambling for answers right now following four high-profile ambush killings. colorado prison chief tom clements, texas prosecutor mike mcclelland and another texas district attorney mark hasse, and west virginia sheriff eugene crumb. is there a link between them? are these random acts or are law enforcement officials being targeted as part of a larger conspiracy? the officer down memorial page website says crimes are up 29% this year. the most recent was eric smith shot and killed this week while interviewing a murder suspect. ambush is the single biggest threat to law enforcement. 15 police officers were killed in ambushes each year from 2009 to 2011. it s already up to 15 for this year. of the 543 law enforcement officials killed in the line of duty from 2002 to 2011, more than 23% were ambushed.
law enforcement officials scrambling for answers right now following four high-profile ambush killings. colorado prison chief tom clements, texas prosecutor mike mcclelland and west virginia sheriff eugene crumb. is there a link between them? are these random acts or are law enforcement officials being targeted as part of a larger conspiracy? the officer down memorial page website says crimes are up 29% this year. the most recent was eric smith shot and killed this week while interviewing a murder suspect. ambush is the single biggest threat to law enforcement. 15 police officers were killed in ambushes each year from 2009 to 2011. it s already up to 15 for this year. of the 543 law enforcement officials killed in the line of duty from 2002 to 2011, more
are criminals getting bolder or is there something else going on here? it sure seems that way. this is unprecedented. as was mentioned in the report about one a week is the occurrence of police officers getting killed as a direct result of adversarial action. a small percentage of that involves ambush killings. that s what these were. and now we ve seen attacks not only against law enforcement but all three components of the criminal justice system. we have the courts. we have corrections. and we have law enforcement. unprecedented. and what s so ironic about this, if the theory behind these attacks is that they re trying to intimidate law enforcement, the courts, corrections, into subjugating themselves to not going after these drug cartels or these drug groups, it s going to have the opposite effect. well, we all know law enforcement is a dangerous job. but since january, according to the national law enforcement officers memorial fund, 28 officers have been killed in the