The annual report by the nonprofit organization, National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, has found that the number of police officers killed by gun violence in the U.S. has spiked to 56 percent in 2014.  This figure includes a growing number of ambush assaults on law enforcement officers this year – 15 in total – compared to just five in 2013.  Ambush attacks on officers were reported to be the top cause of “felonious officer deaths” for the fifth consecutive year.  Overall, 50 officers were killed by gun related violence in 2014 compared to 32 officer deaths in 2013.  This increase follows a significant drop in gun related deaths in 2013, when numbers fell to levels not reported since the 19th century.

These findings come at a particularly tense moment in relations between law enforcement and the general public.  Following the recent high profile deaths of two unarmed black men, Eric Garner in New York and Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, public criticism of the police force has led to large protests in various cities and a frigid standoff between the NYPD and New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is regarded by some as fostering anti-police sentiment in New York City after the grand jury failed to charge an officer in Garner’s death.  Mayor de Blasio had expressed some support for the protesters and reportedly cautioned his biracial son about the dangers he may encounter in dealing with the police.

In response to the latest statistics and negative feedback directed at law enforcement, Craig Floyd, chairman and CEO of the memorial fund, stated that he is “deeply concerned that a growing anti-government sentiment in America is influencing weak-minded individuals to launch violent assaults against the men and women working to enforce our laws and keep our nation safe.”  He continued to say “Enough is enough.  We need to tone down the rhetoric and rally in support of law enforcement and against lawlessness.”

The report follows the fatal ambush of two New York City policemen as they sat in their squad car on December 20.  The perpetrator had written an online message before taking his own life describing the police shooting as an act of revenge for the deaths of two unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri and New York.