INDIANAPOLIS -- Last year was one of the safest ever to be a cop in America, according to the annual Law Enforcement Officers Killed & Assaulted report just released by the FBI.
In all, 41 officers across the country were killed in the line-of-duty in 2015. In Indiana, no officers were killed in the line-of-duty last year.
And, while 2016 has proven to be an exception with a spike in violence towards officers – including the fatal shootings of five officers by a gunman in Dallas in July – FBI data shows 2015 was more indicative of the overall trend of declining violence against police nationwide.
In Indianapolis, 2015 was an unremarkable year in terms of assaults against officers. Approximately 650 IMPD officers reported assaults against them during the year. The department says on average about 700 officers will be assaulted in any given year.
What was unusual was that 2015 saw a dramatic increase in the number of officers assaulted by firearms.
According to IMPD data, more than 35 officers were assaulted with firearms last year.
IMPD provides information about officer-involved shootings to Project Comport on a regular basis. Based on that data, officers faced suspects armed with handguns in more than 50 percent of all officer-involved shootings between August 2015-2016.
Nine officer-involved shootings in 2015 resulted in a suspect being killed by police.
MAP | 2015 Fatal Officer-Involved Shootings
In recent shootings at IMPD's North and Northwest District Headquarters, police believe the suspect used an AR-style or similar caliber rifle. The suspect in those shootings remains at-large.
MORE | Shots fired at IMPD NW District HQ | Mayor Hogsett on IMPD HQ shooting suspect: 'Whoever you are, wherever you are ... we will find you"
Nationwide, of the 38 officers killed with firearms last year, more than 80 percent were killed by a suspect wielding a handgun.
According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report cataloging firearm use by criminals between 1997-2004, offenders were far more likely to have obtained a firearm from a family member or friend (37 percent) or from an illegal source (40 percent) than to have purchased it from a retail store, pawnshop, flea market or gun shop (11.3 percent combined).
FBI data reports than 30 of the 41 officers killed were wearing body armor at the time.
