None of us want to see police officers being killed in the line of duty. These men and women are heroes in every sense of the word. Fortunately, there’s some good news: The number of slain officers is trending downward. So far this year, 26 cops have been shot and killed in the line of duty, compared to 47 for all of last year, a roughly 17% decrease. (These figures don’t count police who die from on-duty vehicle accidents, heart attacks, etc.) According to Washington Monthly, “2013 had the fewest police deaths by firearms since 1887 nationwide.” But here a couple of dismaying statistics: (1) African-American cops account for half of this year’s murdered officers, and (2) a disturbingly large number of cops are committing suicide. Read the story here and here.