
Pictured: Agent Jared Francom (EOW 1/5/2012).
Among the first ten incidents in 2012, we have 13 police officers shot in 3 incidents resulting in three line of duty deaths.: Jared Francom, David White and Michael Maloney.
All of the officers killed were involved in the same enforcement activity: drug house investigations. Two were executing a search warrant with teams. One was involved in a "knock and talk" at a meth lab.
All of these officers were shot by a single armed suspect who was a drug dealer confronted by law enforcement at home. Each dealer was involved in selling a different drug: marijuana, oxycodone, or meth. In each case, the shooter was inside the home and waited for police to make entry before shooting them. Many of the 13 officers were shot in the face and have miraculously survived through advanced medical intervention. Sadly, three officers did not survive these incidents.
I'm working on my new book Officer Down 2013 to outline my findings on this year's line-of-duty deaths. So far, it's been a series of difficult incidents to review, but this trend involving drug houses has fairly jumped out at me, having only researched the first ten officers in my study and finding 1 in 3 was killed in this way.
Why are we seeing more violence in these encounters in 2012? Is it a result of a wider acceptance of drug use in society, despite the well-known dangers of marijuana and methamphetamine use? What are your thoughts on this?
Among the first ten incidents in 2012, we have 13 police officers shot in 3 incidents resulting in three line of duty deaths.: Jared Francom, David White and Michael Maloney.
All of the officers killed were involved in the same enforcement activity: drug house investigations. Two were executing a search warrant with teams. One was involved in a "knock and talk" at a meth lab.
All of these officers were shot by a single armed suspect who was a drug dealer confronted by law enforcement at home. Each dealer was involved in selling a different drug: marijuana, oxycodone, or meth. In each case, the shooter was inside the home and waited for police to make entry before shooting them. Many of the 13 officers were shot in the face and have miraculously survived through advanced medical intervention. Sadly, three officers did not survive these incidents.
I'm working on my new book Officer Down 2013 to outline my findings on this year's line-of-duty deaths. So far, it's been a series of difficult incidents to review, but this trend involving drug houses has fairly jumped out at me, having only researched the first ten officers in my study and finding 1 in 3 was killed in this way.
Why are we seeing more violence in these encounters in 2012? Is it a result of a wider acceptance of drug use in society, despite the well-known dangers of marijuana and methamphetamine use? What are your thoughts on this?