by Rich Grassi It should come as no surprise that our fatalities are up. I've seen internet forum discussions where police officers congregate and discuss the state of the Union. It's not good. People are more concerned about "being caught on video," getting sued or doing "community policing" to remember the "First Rule of Law Enforcement," famously stated in the movie The Untouchables: Getting home alive after your shift. Too damn many don't. We've forgotten lessons learned and written in our history in blood. Back when I started, Newhall, CA was old news. No one mentioned it and I had to find out what happened on my own. Now there probably very few outside of that area that even know what happened at Newhall. Since then we've had outrage after outrage: Norco CA, Miami FL, Lakewood WA, West Memphis AR. Widows and orphans stack up . . . and it's not over. Preliminary data for 2010 was released on Monday by FBI. The complete report will be out in the fall. We lost 56 officers to "felonious killings." In 2009, we lost 48. A surprise in the data is that we lost 72 to accidental deaths in 2010. That's a stunning figure. 22 were killed in the South, the region that normally leads in officer slayings. Fifteen were killed in ambush, 13 during unprovoked attacks and two in entrapment/premeditation ambush. Eight investigated suspicious persons/circumstances, seven killed in traffic stops/pursuits, six interrupted robberies or were pursuing robbery suspects and six were on disturbance calls, four of them involving domestics. One was killed by use of a vehicle as a weapon. Of the remaining, 38 were killed by persons using handguns, 15 were killed by offenders wielding rifles and two by persons with shotguns. 38 of 56 were wearing armor. There's a move afoot to mandate armor wear. I think that's counter-productive over the long term - but you still need to wear your armor. Sixteen officers fired their weapons during the encounter and seven tried to use their weapons. Seven of the officers were killed with their own guns. The threat of gun-grabs isn't new. It's been addressed time after time. The best answer I can see is the Lindell Gun Retention System taught at National Law Enforcement Training Center. There's still time for your agency to get an instructor candidate lined up for the National Seminar in Kansas City MO July 11-16, 2011. Check www.nletc.com or contact Jennifer.williams@nletc.com. The victim officers were killed in 51 separate incidents. There were victim officers who didn't die alone. The answer? I wish I knew. Obviously, we need situational awareness. Seeing that something isn't quite right isn't enough. We need to listen when that little voice says, "why?" The officers on one particular internet forum are the "switched-on, predatory" type - those actively seeking criminal activity and aggressively combating criminals daily. One, from my area, noted that we need to stop and smell the flowers. He's not talking about a lackadaisical, lights-out approach but an amped-up situational awareness. It's a deep-Condition Yellow in which you pause and scan before coming out in the open. If you're going in for a cup of coffee, do a drive-by. Look through the windows of the place, get a look at the cars parked outside. Is there anything that doesn't fit? Park around the side if you can, where it's less-well lit. Get out, get up to the building. Stop. Look. Listen. What doesn't fit? Why? Similarly, at the approach to a disturbance call, don't park at the front of the address and wander up with your finger in your nose. Black out as you come into the area, park a few houses short. Make a mistake and drive in too close to the case address? Okay, slide by, windows down. Look. Listen. Move along, then make an on-foot approach from a distance. Using your eyes and ears, recon the open area before you enter it. You might be surprised at what you hear. This sounds more professional than the "visiting Grandma" approach? Good. There are training aids available, books and audio-visual. Practice with others on your shift. If you're a supervisor, take some shift time and do shift training. Do not forget safety. We don't need to lose someone in a training accident. Sharpen that edge. Get home safe at the end of watch.