“We Need To Start Killing These Officers”

In Madison, Wisconsin, a mob attacked a police officer who was trying to break up a fight:

The officer stopped in the area of Prairie Road and Jacobs Way around 6:20 p.m. after spotting a large number of people in the street. He said that as he approached he saw a woman punch a man in the face, and he could see that the woman had a can of pepper spray.

Latonya B. James

Latonya B. James

The officer said that as he went to arrest the woman he was surrounded by a crowd that was voicing anti-police sentiments, including “We need to start killing these officers.” …

The older woman punched the officer in the face and grabbed him by the throat, according to the release.

The officer said he could see many in the crowd were recording the incident on their cellphones while some accused him of misconduct and using excessive force.

A witness told police he or she “felt the officer was in trouble” and said it appeared someone had gone for his gun.

The two women were arrested when more officers arrived.

Police said Latonya B. James, 40, of Madison threatened many times to kill the officer while on her way to jail.

This last bit is telling:

Police said a nearby resident who was not involved in the melee told a detective the officer who was battered has, in the past, done a great job reaching out to residents and communicating with the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, a female officer stopped to aid a disabled vehicle and was thrown down a 40-foot embankment.

Four police officers have been murdered in the last 11 days. Despite what feels like a trend, the Associated Press tells us that shootings of police officers are actually down:

Shooting deaths of officers are actually down 13 percent compared with the same January-to-September period in 2014. There were 30 shootings last year and 26 this year. Those figures include state and local officers, as well as federal agents. …

Deaths have declined through the decades. The average number of officer shooting deaths for the first six months of each year — which is how the memorial fund gauges trends — was 62 through the 1970s.

The worst half-year period over the past five decades was in 1973, when 84 officers were shot and killed in the first six months alone. Through the early 2000s, the six-month average fell to 29.

That’s reassuring, I guess. But this is the first time since the 1960s that we have seen a movement that actually advocates violence against police officers–“we need to start killing these officers,” “pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon,” and much more. We have barely begun to see the consequences that this organized outpouring of hate is likely to produce.

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