FBI director addresses rise is police officer deaths
Correspondent David Spunt has the latest from the Justice Department on 'Special Report'
It is police week and instead of celebrating, FBI Director Christopher Wray is mourning a growing number of officers killed in the line of duty.
Wray, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, is mourning three members of law enforcement killed in just the past week.
"It is an absolute tragedy what's happening in this country. Enough is enough," Wray told Fox News Correspondent David Spunt at FBI headquarters on Thursday.
Within the past week, Louisiana State Police Master Trooper Adam Gaubert, Alamo, Georgia, Police Officer Dylan Harrison and Maricopa County, Arizona, Deputy Sheriff Juan Miguel Ruiz are part of a growing group of those killed in the line of duty.
"It takes an unbelievably special person to be willing to get up every morning and put his [or] her life on the line for a total stranger," Wray said.
According to the latest FBI statistics, as of Oct. 14, 59 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty this year. At this point in 2020, the number was 39.
With calls to defund police departments growing louder, Wray says now is the time to make sure officers at the local and federal levels have every tool necessary.
"I don’t believe that giving the police less resources, less training, less people is the solution. I think that just promotes lawlessness. I think we need to be making sure that our police departments are able to recruit and hire the right people, that they're trained in the right way. That they're equipped with the very best equipment, that they're compensated appropriately," Wray said.
Recruiting is down in cities large to small and retirements are plentiful, leaving many departments understaffed and over worked.
Wray showed Fox News the wall of honor inside FBI headquarters, pointing out his friend and colleague Supervisory Special Agent David LeValley. He died in 2018 from health complications as a result of the 9/11 attacks 17 years before.
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"Think about the kids who are growing up without parents. Think about the spouses who are having to carry through in their lives without the person who's closest to them in the world. Think about the parents who are having to bury their children," Wray said.
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