Ambush shootings of police officers should be a federal crime
It’s never been more dangerous to be in law enforcement. In Pennsylvania and across the nation, ambushstyle shootings of officers have become all too common.
In 2023, 378 officers were shot in the line of duty, the highest number the Fraternal Order of Police has recorded since it began collecting data in 2015.
On Feb. 6, 2023, McKeesport police officers Sean Sluganski and Chuck Thomas responded to a domestic incident. While appearing to be walking away, the assailant suddenly turned and shot both officers, killing Sluganski and seriously wounding Thomas.
On June 17, Pennsylvania State Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr. was supposed to be off, but put on his uniform and went to work when his station was attacked. Rougeau was driving down a road when the subject of the manhunt appeared and shot through his windshield at point-blank range. The assailant had earlier shot and seriously wounded state police Lt. James Wagner.
On Oct. 12, Philadelphia International Airport Sgt. Richard C. Mendez and officer Raul Ortiz were ambushed when trying to stop a car break-in. Ortiz survived, but Mendez, a 23-year veteran of the force, was shot twice and killed, leaving behind his wife and daughter.
Then this year, while investigating a shooting Jan. 11, Detective Kyle Gilmartin from the Scranton Police Department miraculously survived two gunshots to his head. The assailant walked up to the detective’s car and fired five shots at point-blank range into the car.
Across the United States last year, 115 police officers were victims of ambush-style attacks. Tragically, 46 were killed.
The FBI, in a report titled “The Assailant Study: Mindset and Behavior,” identified a disturbing and growing trend of attackers who are motivated by a desire to kill a law enforcement officer. This motivation, the report concludes, is from a “singular narrative that portrays the officer as guilty in traditional and social media and the subject as the victim.”
A study by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, which examined law enforcement officer fatalities from 2010-16, found 20% of ambushed officers were seated in their patrol cars and 56% of officers killed in an ambush were not on a call or engaged in any enforcement activity. Of these, five officers were targeted and killed at home or on their way home.
To deal with the rapid increase of these brazen attempts to surprise — and murder — police officers, U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., has introduced legislation known as The Protect and Serve Act.
The bill would make deliberate, calculated ambush-style attacks a federal crime with stiff penalties of 10 years up to life for attempted murder or murder. Thus far, it has bipartisan support from eight of Pennsylvania’s 17 congressional members.
As law enforcement officers, we all accept the risks of our jobs. So do our families. In fact, our families are the real heroes because they live with the very real possibility that we may not come home. But these ambush attacks are nothing less than assassinations of police officers.
No officer should be at risk of being targeted while simply sitting in their patrol car, standing post or heading home at the end of a shift. When a member of the public calls for help, we answer that call.
It’s our hope Pennsylvania’s entire congressional delegation will sign on to this important legislation and help with its passage. It’s time for America to send a clear message to dangerous criminals that surprise attacks on police officers will be met with the full force of our justice system.
It’s time for America to return, once again, to putting the safety of the public — and those who protect them — first. The heroes who’ve already died — and those who continue to put it on the line every day — deserve nothing less.
As law enforcement officers, we all accept the risks of our jobs. So do our families. In fact, our families are the real heroes because they live with the very real possibility that we may not come home. But these ambush attacks are nothing less than assassinations of police officers.