Before any of you get on your 'statistics soap box', I don't know why, nor do I care why some of the numbers don't add up. Lodge a complaint with the BLS.
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm
State Government (likely includes local LEOs since Local Government does not list cops)
Police Protection:
2010 - 34 (21/10) transportation (footnote 3)/violent acts (footnote 4). Total - 21: 13 - highway incidents, 7 - worker hit by vehicle. Total 10: 8 - homicide by shooting
2009 - 11 (9/0) transportation/violent acts
2008 - 18 (11/6) transportation/violent acts
2007 - 21 (12/4) transportation/violent acts
2006 - 25 (16/8) transportation/violent acts
2005 - 26 (12/11) transportation/violent acts
2004 - 14 (10/3) transportation/violent acts
2003 - 23 (14/6) transportation/violent acts
Footnote 3: Includes highway, non-highway, air, water, rail fatalities, and fatalities resulting from being struck by a vehicle.
Footnote 4: Includes violence by persons, self-inflicted injury, and attacks by animals.
It really does not matter what your viewpoint is. The state has sanctioned, with the court's blessing, the actions by LEOs to ensure
their safety. Whether or not anyone else is safe is irrelevant, to the state. If, after the fact, you and LE part ways and you were not physically harmed, that is a mere artifact. Now, does every LEO consider the safety of the citizen they contact? I'll state yes. But, it is possible that a miniscule number of LEOs are not interested in the safety of those they come into contact with. In any event, it is extremely unlikely that you, the citizen, and
your safety, is first and foremost in the LEOs mind.
LEO actions condoned by the state:
High speed pursuits. (The bystanding citizen bears the burden to get out of the way.)
The discharge of many firearms, simultaneously,
without regard to where their fired rounds go.
The threat of severe bodily harm and even death for exercising your rights.
Only in the extreme case, where a LEO crosses too far into the realm of illegality, documented and disseminated to the public, where the LEOs union and his bureaucratic masters can not provide cover, then that LEO will be sacrificed. Every now and then, someone has to take one for the team.
So, we citizens must endure these unconstitutional intrusions for the safety of our 'protectors'. This is the price we pay for safety in our communities. If a little infringement of our rights happens along the way, so long as it is a 'brief' infringement, we have zero recourse. The road to the redress of wrongs inflicted upon the citizenry at the hands of armed state agents is closed due perpetual deconstruction.
The only way to restrain the overuse of the 'officer safety' canard is to elect state lawmakers who will erode qualified immunity protections from LEOs and make the LEO personally liable for his actions, when his actions result in unjustified and illegal harm.
LEOs are a class of 'citizen' placed above the citizenry. This status has been codified by local, state, federal governments....'LEOSA' anybody?
LEOs are special, they know it and take advantage of their special status....most folks would too if they had the same opportunity. When there is little to no meaningful consequence applied to a LEO for the actions of that LEO....'paid administrative leave' anybody?
And, who is responsible for the current state of affairs? It is We The People, that's who.
The citizenry must hold their elected officials accountable, at the ballot box, for the actions of their armed agents, only then will liberty be restored and the power of the state diminished.