The national numbers as well as our state statistics show the danger law enforcement officers face every day in the line of duty.

The most recent FBI numbers are from 2011. The statistics show more than 54,000 law enforcement officers in our country were assaulted in the line of duty that year. Almost 10 percent of those assaults involved firearms. In our state, more than 2,200 law enforcement officers were assaulted in the line of duty in 2011. 56 of those assaults involved firearms, according to the FBI.

No law enforcement officers have been killed in our state in 2013. Last year, six died in the line of duty. One of them, a state highway patrol trooper, was killed after he was struck by a vehicle in Nash County. Two others, a Watauga County sheriff’s deputy and Lumberton police office, died from gunfire. The other three deaths involved a training accident, a fall and an auto crash. This information comes from the Officer Down Memorial Page.

The roll calls on the Officer Down Memorial Page for 2011, 2010 and 2009 include six law enforcement officers from Eastern Carolina.

In 2011, two law enforcement officers from our area were killed in the line of duty. Greene County sheriff’s deputy David Dawson died in a crash and Warren “Sneak” Lewis, an investigator with the Nash County Sheriff’s Office, was killed by gunfire.

In 2010, a Greene County sheriff’s deputy, Jon-Michael Willis, was killed by gunfire. In 2009, deputy sheriff Charlie Brown of Martin County was killed by gunfire, Lenoir County sheriff’s detective Allen Pearson Jr. died from gunfire and Nags Head police sergeant Dulan Murray Jr. died in a crash.