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Even as Violent Crime Falls, Killing of Officers Rises

A vigil for four police officers from Buchanan County, Va., who were shot in March 2011. Two were killed, and two were wounded.

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

WASHINGTON — As violent crime has decreased across the country, a disturbing trend has emerged: rising numbers of police officers are being killed.

According to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 72 officers were killed by perpetrators in 2011, a 25 percent increase from the previous year and a 75 percent increase from 2008.

The 2011 deaths were the first time that more officers were killed by suspects than car accidents, according to data compiled by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The number was the highest in nearly two decades, excluding those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

read more at The New York Times

James W. Brown, possible Line of Duty Death

 

James W. Brown was a Railroad Agent for the M&O Railroad when he was murdered on October 29, 1901 in Cahokia, Illinois.

Brown was born in 1850, in Marion County, Illinois. His family moved to Will County, Illinois in 1860. At Age 15 he joined the Union Army as part of the 15th Illinois Infantry. He joined in March 1865, only a few weeks before the end of the war. He mustered out in July of 1865.

In 1890 he was in East St. Louis, Illinois, with his family and working as an Night watchman. Later in the decade he was an East St. Louis Police Officer. He was working for the M&O Railroad in 1901 at the time of his murder.

On October 29, 1901, Brown and his partner, J. C. Combs, were investigating the theft of brass items from box cars along a siding in Cahokia, Illinois. The officers were ambushed. Brown was shot. One of the thieves was killed but the others escaped during a running gun battle with Combs.

Returning to the scene, Combs discovered that Brown's wallet had been looted by the thieves and his watch was gone. The dead thief was clutching Brown's gun in his hand. Brown was buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Belleville, Illinois.

Read his Civil War service record after the break