UNDATED -- Next week is National Police Officers week and the number of law enforcement officers injured and killed in the line of duty is on the rise. Craig Floyd with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund says that this increase is directly related to budget cuts. He says there are fewer officers on the streets and there is less money for training and equipment for those officers.
This year 66-officers nationwide have been killed in the line of duty including Kalamazoo PSO Eric Zapata. That is a significant increase over last year's figure. Floyd calls for harsher punishments for the most dangerous criminals. Floyd also hopes for increases in funding to allow officers to be protected and well trained as fully as possible.
