According to statistics released by the FBI on Monday, 51 police officers were killed by "felonious acts" in 2014, nearly twice the number from 2013.

All told, 96 officers died in the line of duty in 2014, according to the Bureau.

Washington Post:

While the number of officers killed feloniously was up significantly year-over-year — there were just 27 officers killed feloniously in 2013, according to the FBI, the lowest number of officers murdered in the line of duty in at least a decade — it remains fewer than the 56 officers murdered in 2010 and 55 officers murdered in 2005.

Despite the year-over-year increase, the number of officers that the FBI says were murdered in the line of duty in 2014 was in line with the 10-year average. On average, 50.5 police officers per year have been murdered in the line of duty during the last decade. The FBI’s release last year gave no reason for 2013’s uncharacteristically low number of officers feloniously killed.

Only one of the officers feloniously killed in 2014 was by an unarmed person.

Of the other 50 officers, 46 were killed using firearms (33 were killed with handguns, 10 with rifles, and three with shotguns). Four officers were killed when they were struck or run over by a vehicle.

The FBI says that all of the officers killed were male, while 47 of them were white, two were black, and two were Asian.

In 29 of these cases, the suspect was charged with murder; in 19 cases, the killer is dead; and in three cases, the homicide is being investigated as capital murder of a law enforcement officer.

It's tempting blame this sharp uptick in cop-killings on the incitement by groups like Black Lives Matter.  Indeed, we have evidence that at least some of deaths this year and in 2014 were due exclusively to the calls to "off a pig" from Black Lives Matter activists.  There is anecdotal evidence that the atmosphere policemen must deal with on the street has made them more cautious, thus making them less effective.

But most police deaths are the result of criminals being cornered and opening fire.  About a third appear to be "suicide by cop."  While it is impossible to generalize how much impact the Black Lives Matter incitement to kill cops has had on the statistics, it is safe to say that it has made the job of policemen far more dangerous and difficult.  And at least some of the blood of dead cops is on the hands of black activists.