Multimedia Gallery

Arresting Numbers

May 15, 2013

You may Listen or download this story in .mp3 format or as a .wav file.

Profile America -- Wednesday, May 15th. This week, we honor those civil servants to whom we owe much, including the peace and safety of our neighborhoods. It's National Police Week, signed into law in 1962 by President John Kennedy, designating this day as Peace Officers Memorial Day. Nationwide, hundreds of police departments will have held observances during the week leading up to today, when a memorial service is held on the west front of the U.S. Capitol. Each year in the U.S., there are about 1.3 million violent crimes committed, and more than 9 million property crimes. At the same time, about 100 of the nation's three-quarter million state and local police officers are killed in the line of duty, while more than 57,000 are assaulted. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: www.policeweek.org
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 307, 344
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons.html