As we noted in early December, 2021 was shaping up to be a particularly deadly year for cops. And it was. According to the National Fraternal Order of Police, 346 police officers were shot in the line of duty in 2021 — 63 of whom were killed. That number is up from 312 officers shot in 2020, 47 of whom were killed, according to an FOP analysis.

Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes all but affixed the blame where it belongs: at the feet of the Defund Democrats. “There is no doubt that the recent erosion of respect for law enforcement has fueled more aggression towards police officers than what has been seen in previous years,” he said. “As violence continues to be aimed at law enforcement, our officers continue to show up every day to keep the communities they serve safe. These men and women run toward danger to protect the public when everyone else is running away.”

Further, according to preliminary data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, as of December 31, 2021, 458 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officers died in the line-of-duty in 2021. That’s an increase of 55% from the 295 officers killed during 2020, and the highest total of line-of-duty officer deaths since 1930 — the era of Prohibition — when there were 312 fatalities.

Less publicized, though, but every bit as disturbing, is the fact that cops have been killing themselves in unprecedented numbers lately. There were 632 total law enforcement deaths across the nation in 2021, and nearly 25% of those were self-inflicted. That makes suicide the second-ranked cause of death among LEOs last year, behind COVID-19. And if COVID deaths are removed from the equation, suicide becomes the cause of nearly half of all law enforcement deaths.

“Cops are killing themselves at about two and a half times the rate the bad guys are killing us, and that should really put a lot of flags up for most law enforcement agencies,” said Dr. Tim Faulk, clinical director of the Alabama Law Enforcement Alliance for Peer Support.

The FBI has even launched a data collection tool to compile national statistics to better understand and prevent police suicides.

Democrats see an opportunity here — an opportunity to repair some of the damage done by their “defund” campaign and their alliance with viciously anti-cop groups such as Black Lives Matter. As Democrat mouthpiece CNN “reports,” Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth “is introducing legislation aimed at helping families of fallen law enforcement officers qualify for benefits if the officers die by suicide after experiencing trauma as a result of their work, an issue that has taken on new urgency in the aftermath of last year’s January 6 attack on the US Capitol.”

So, the issue is hitting home with Democrats not because they noticed this awful nationwide trend, but because they noticed a specific instance of suicides related to their pet project, the J6 riot. As CNN continues: “The issue of law enforcement officer deaths by suicide has received renewed attention over the past year after responding officers endured harrowing violence when a pro-Trump mob attacked the US Capitol. Four officers took their own lives in the aftermath of the attack.”

Morale among cops is low. Resignations are up. Suicides are up. And recruitment is perilously low. And all this is because of the Left’s efforts to not only defund law enforcement, but to devalue it.

Our sense is that the cops won’t soon forget any of this.