Police killed in line of duty in 2016; highest in five years

2016 was one of the deadliest in the last five years for police killed in the line of duty.

We all remember the horror in July when five officers were shot in Dallas. They were among the 135 officers killed this year in the line of duty.

Nearly half of the 135 were shot to death making the percentage of officers killed by a gun increasing to more than 50 percent compared to last year.

After some of the notable ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge the Columbia Police Department paired up their officers.

“If something raises our threat level, or raises our awareness as police officers we have to adjust accordingly,” Deputy Chief of Columbia Police Department Jill Schlude said.

The Columbia City Council is set to accept a grant Tuesday that would help the Columbia police see four new officers.

According to Schlude that still won’t be enough at the end of the day.

Schlude says having another set of eyes paired up with officers is something that the department hopes to have in the future to make law enforcement feel safer.

“Having two officers in a car would be ideal, you always have a backup officer,” she says, “Unfortunately we just aren’t at that point, but in my mind two is better than one.”

As far as changing any protocols this year to make law enforcement feel safer, Schlude said they will continue to adjust their practices to make officers feel safe but nothing permanent has been put into place.

Out of all the shooting deaths across the country, 21 of them were considered ambush style. That marks 2016 as the highest total in more than two decades.