Trump Tweets Police Deaths Up 78%, When Actually Unchanged
In a tweet Donald Trump repeated a previously debunked statistic that police officers killed in the line of duty by gunfire is up 78% this year. However the number of officers killed in the line of duty has not changed compared to last year.
Shooting deaths of police officers up 78% this year. We must restore law and order and protect our great law enforcement officers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2016
Reality
This is a tragic stat which is why Donald Trump should not be dishonest with these figures.
The Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks officer deaths, reports that as of the time of Trump’s tweet 32 police officers have been killed by gunfire so far this year, while 21 were killed in line of duty by gunfire during the same period last year. That is a 52% increase.
But keep in mind that context is important. Overall the total number of officers killed in the line of duty compared to last year is unchanged, at 69.
Trump repeated a false statistic regarding officer deaths a week prior when he spoke at the Republican National Convention, but said police killed in the line of duty was up 50%, when at the time it was actually down 1%.
Donald Trump wants to claim Blue Lives Matter but he is willing to dishonor police by exaggerating real officer deaths to stoke fears for political gain.