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In a year in which law enforcement fatalities are down overall, 2009 has been punctuated by intense bursts of violence against our nation's peace officers. The latest, particularly heinous incident occurred just after 8 am on Sunday in Washington state, when a gunman walked into a Pierce County coffee shop and open fired on four officers of the Lakewood Police Department who were going over plans for their upcoming shift. All four officers were killed in what area law enforcement officials are calling an execution.
No other customers or employees in the coffee house at the time were injured. Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar identified the four slain officers as Sergeant Mark Renninger, age 39, and Officers Tina Griswold, 40, Ronald Owens, 37, and Greg Richards, 42. All four were veteran law enforcement officers, with between 8 and 14 years of experience each, and all four had been members of the Lakewood Police Department since it was founded five years ago in the community outside Tacoma.
The officers were the first members of the relatively new police agency to be killed in the performance of duty. And Officer Griswold has the unfortunate distinction of being the first female officer in the United States to be killed this year. Chief Farrar stated, "This is a very difficult time for our families and our officers. The families will have many challenges ahead of them and we ask that their privacy be respected.
Please keep our families and Lakewood Police in your prayers." This latest violent incident was the fourth multiple-fatality shooting of law enforcement officers this year. On March 21, four members of the Oakland (CA) Police Department were fatally shot following a traffic stop and subsequent search. Just two weeks later, on April 4, three Pittsburgh (PA) Police officers were gunned down by a heavily armed extremist wearing a bullet-resistant vest and lying in wait for the officers, who had been called by the gunman's mother for a domstic complaint.
And three weeks after that, two Okaloosa County (FL) Sheriff's deputies were murdered while trying to arrest a man wanted in an earlier domestic incident. In addition to the four multiple-fatality shooting incidents reported above, there was a fifth incident this past July 26, in which two Seminole County (OK) Sheriff's deputies were shot and killed while attempting to serve an arrest warrant.
Therefore, 15 officers have been killed in multiple-fatality shootings this year, representing more than one-third of the firearms-related deaths this year in the U.S. The 15 officers shot and killed in these four incidents represent nearly 30 percent of the 44 officers who have been shot and killed so far this year, according to preliminary statistics from the NLEOMF.
The preliminary data show that total law enforcement fatalities are down more than 7 percent this year, driven by a dramatic, 23 percent drop in traffic-related fatalities. However, firearms-related deaths are up 19 percent so far this year, and the 11-month total of 44 is already five more than occurred in all of 2008.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund extends our deepest sympathies to the families of the four officers killed today in Lakewood, WA, to Chief Farrar and all the members of the Lakewood Police Department, and to the citizens of Lakewood, who are coping with the loss of four of their dedicated protectors. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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I live in the area of the Lakewood police murders in Pierce County of Washington State. The shooter is now described as raised in a fatherless household (step-dad) but not dad. The same is true for the shooter in Oakland, Ca. earlier this year, and many other murders of civilians as well.
Our American breakdown of the institution of the family and ongoing anti-male discrimination in family law and social services policy and attitudes, seems to place police officers in extra danger. The key issue here is our American failure, by society itself, in how we are raising so many of our young male children in very compromised and unhealthy family situations.
Additionally, fatherless sons are the highest numbers of High School dropouts and this has a staggering daily impact on American life and huge financial cost - nearly $4 million lifetime costs when counting federal costs like food stamps, health care and incarceration.
I would think it would be in the best interest of law enforcement organizations as well as individual officers all over America to document the fatherless son perspective in police and civilian murders, and produce a well documented national report. Such a report could help change family policy and help make our neighborhoods and police officers safer.
Simply writing harsher criminal laws, lengthening criminal sentences and building more jails will not reduce instances of police officers and innocent citizens being exposed to serious harm from these outrageous violent crimes mostly committed by fatherless sons.
We must re-structure society with greater values on marriage and respect for parenting by our fathers.
Our Washington State police officers are now back to work after the stunning 3.5 hour procession of police vehicles and 3 hour memorial service on December 8th, 2009. We thank law enforcement from all over America and Canada for this public showing of support and togetherness. The question is whether our officers, and yours, are any safer.
Any and all response to this comment will be most appreciated.
Bill Harrington, Former Commissioner
US Commission on Child and Family Welfare
Pierce County, Washington State