Only 42% of DC murder cases were closed after anti-police movement and it could get worse, criminologists say
Defund the police movement hurt detectives’ ability to solve homicides, criminologists say
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This is the first story in a series about murders in Washington, D.C.
Killers weren’t arrested in more than half of the murders committed in the nation’s capital in 2021, according to one analysis – a figure that could worsen without major changes, given the nature of how homicides are solved, criminologists told Fox News Digital.
The main reason so few murder suspects were arrested is because of how far trust in the police dropped in the fallout after an officer killed George Floyd in May 2020, the criminologists said. Witnesses, as a result, became less willing to cooperate with detectives.
“If people are less confident in the police, want to have less contact with the police, they’re not going to be as cooperative,” a University of Missouri-St. Louis criminology professor, Richard Rosenfeld,told Fox News Digital.“The police therefore lose that valuable form of assistance as they’re trying to solve homicides.”
“The police can’t clear crimes on their own,” Rosenfeld continued. “Those of us who happened to witness the event are key ingredients in the ability of the police to clear a homicide or any other serious crime with an arrest.”
Deputy Shirley, 26, was in uniform working an off-duty security job at a used car lot located on Rockford Lane near Dover Road on Aug. 5, 2021, when he came under attack at approximately 2:30 a.m., WLKY reported.
He was sitting in his unmarked vehicle when an unidentified suspect suddenly walked up and shot him, LMPD Spokesperson Alicia Smiley told reporters shortly after the incident, according to WAVE.
JCSO Lieutenant Colonel Carl Yates said Deputy Shirley was transported to the University of Louisville Hospital and rushed into surgery, WLKY reported.
Deputy Shirley died of his wounds during the emergency procedure, according to the Courier Journal.
Milwaukee, WI – An off-duty Milwaukee police detective was shot multiple times during what police believe may have been an attempted carjacking on Thursday afternoon.
Law enforcement sources told WITI that the Milwaukee police officer who was shot was off-duty when he encountered a carjacking and tried to intervene.
Covid? The Flu or multiple comorbidities ? How many actually died from the vaccine????
A record number of law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty in 2021, according to a report from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund Wednesday, with most losing their lives to COVID-19.
In 2021, 458 law enforcement officers died — up 55% from 2020, according to the report.
In 2020, 295 federal, state, local and tribal officers died in the line of duty. The closest number to 2021’s was recorded was in 1930, when there were 312 law enforcement deaths.
The vast majority of deaths — 301 — were due to COVID-19, according to the report, the second year in a row COVID-19 was the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths. The vaccination status of the 301 officers who died is not known.
The couple had just gotten out of their vehicle and was heading across the street to look at a residence when three suspects in a black pickup approached them, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“The officer yelled for his girlfriend to leave to run to go back to the car,” Chief Moore said.
Officer Arroyos was shot during an ensuing exchange of gunfire with the suspects, police said.
‘Ambush-style attacks’ against officers were up 115% in 2021 compared to 2020
A “historic” 346 police officers were shot in the line of duty in 2021 — 63 of whom were killed, according to the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which represents more than 346,000 U.S. law enforcement officers.
“As we have said before, the recent erosion of respect for law enforcement and anti-police rhetoric has fueled more aggression towards police officers than what has been seen in previous years,” FOP President Patrick Yoes told Fox News in a statement.
The five states with the highest numbers of officers shot in the line of duty were Texas (43), Illinois (29), California (23), Georgia (19) and Florida (17).
“Ambush-style” attacks — when officers are shot at without any warning or opportunities to defend themselves — were up 115% in 2021 compared to 2020, with 130 officers shot in 103 ambush attacks.
Yoes encouraged Congress to pass the “Protect and Serve Act” of 2021 that would make it a federal crime to knowingly cause or attempt to cause injury to an officer.
“The attacks on law enforcement officers during 2021 were a harsh reminder that our law enforcement officers are not just in harm’s way due to the dangerous nature of their profession, but that they are the targets of cowardly individuals whose sole motivation is to injure or kill a law enforcement officer,” Yoes said. “Despite all of this, the brave men and women of law enforcement will continue to hold the line, stand in between good and evil, and work tirelessly to protect the communities they serve.”
More than a dozen major U.S. cities ended 2021 with either record homicides or the highest homicide numbers in two or three decades, including Atlanta (30-year record) and Chicago (25-year record), even as other violent crimes such as aggravated assault and non-violent crimes such as burglary decline in the same areas.
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