More police officers have been killed in the line of duty under President Biden's leadership than in prior years since 1995

FOX NEWS Reports today that  More police officers have been killed in the line of duty under President Biden's leadership than in prior years since 1995, and a law enforcement nonprofit wants the president to start speaking up.

While officer line-of-duty deaths reached record highs beginning in 2020 due to COVID-19, killings of officers are also up, according to the FBI's law enforcement officers killed in action (LEOKA) data.

"We believe it's a combination … of the George Floyd protests — riots, if you will; a general feeling of a preference for less law enforcement; and less prosecution and less policing," said Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF) and a 20-year police veteran. 

"Law enforcement officers have essentially been marginalized and demoralized and cast aside and encouraged not to enforce the law. And so we've seen massive jumps in the homicide rate in cities across America."

He added that "it's natural" rising homicide rates in major U.S. cities have "also resulted in many more officers being assaulted because … a lot of leaders in these cities and leaders in Congress and leaders in the White House have really voiced a lack of respect for law enforcement officers."

In 2021, the FBI counted 73 officers intentionally killed in the line of duty. That's a nearly 59% increase compared to the 46 intentionally killed in 2020.

The last time more than 72 officers were killed was in 1995, when 74 officers were intentionally killed on the job, according to LEOKA data. The next highest number of officers intentionally killed on duty was 72 in 2011, according to LEOKA data analyzed in a report by the Heartland Institute.

That number was 55 in 2012, 27 in 2013, 51 in 2014, 41 in 2015, 66 in 2016, 46 in 2017, 56 in 2018 and 48 in 2019.