Primus, et al., first anybody's death, LE, service member, First responder, or construction worker working in an unsafe environment is a loss and burden on our society and it's economy.
that said, did a quick search on www and me thinks you should check out this website,
http://www.nleomf.org/facts/officer-fatalities-data/causes.html
executive summary for years 2003- 2012
total of 1540 officer deaths
30% or 457 officers died in auto accidents
37% or 564 died from being shot
while no total exists, there are individual stats by year showing of the 50% deaths (give or take) of the officers 'wearing body armor'.
Officer safety from possibly not engaging in unneeded High speed pursuits or wearing their seat belt seems a better educational concept to minimize officer deaths.
finally, 2013 preliminary officers deaths is also posted on this site and overall, firearm deaths are down from dec 12 to dec 13 to 28 verse 41 last year.
caveat, there may be a difference in how the compiler(s) of this data has categorized some officer's cause of death because 'other' causes has a 26% increase (six deaths).
relating to 2013 deaths quote Of the 17 firearms-related fatalities, seven officers were killed in ambush attacks—the most of any circumstance of fatal shootings in 2013. This is the second year in a row in which ambushes were the leading cause of deaths. During this same time period in 2012, four officers were shot and killed in ambushes. quote
now to put this into perspective:
OSHA reports their fatalities weekly and a composite and their combined report from 1 oct 12 to sept 30 13 shows 69 pages of 15 souls who died for a total of 1035 individuals who died. I know who cares but...
https://www.osha.gov/dep/fatcat/fy13_federal-state_summaries.pdf
when a LE dies in the line of duty (with all their equipment worn and in a highly controlled environment), everyone - union, Department, City, etc., circles around and the families automatically reap the $$ and continued health benefits paid to the family for years.
when someone dies on construction, farm accidents, etc., through no fault of their own, the insurance companies immediately step in analyzing who's fault was it, how can we mitigate $$$$ risk to us. screw the family that lost their wage earner etc. families have to resort on their attorney's to fight the battle in court and in the end the families get pennies on the dollar.
yes, it is an inequity in our society...but should it be?
so disarming me while OC'g seems a mute point since officer deaths by firearms is statistically down across the nation and only a third over the last decade have died by being shot. Last two years officers death by firearm has been done by ambush...
please do not go there by stating...see LE disarming OC'ers has reduced officer deaths over the last decade unless you have a verifiable cite specifically showing how the third died.
ipse
a total of 19K LE have died 1791
