Is There A 'War On Police'? The Statistics Say No 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images 
 
 The ambush-style murder of Sheriff Deputy Darren Goforth at a gas station in suburban Houston on Aug. 29 has added new urgency to warnings about a growing "war on cops" in America. After the arrest of the suspect, an African-American man named Shannon J. Miles, the local district attorney called for more public support for law enforcement. 
 
 "It is time for the silent majority in this country to support law enforcement," said Devon Anderson, the Harris County DA. "There are a few bad apples in every profession. That does not mean there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement." 
 
 The notion of growing "warfare" against police stems in part from a statistical jump in the number of law officers murdered — "feloniously killed," in the jargon of the FBI's numbers. 
 
 In 2014, the year of the Ferguson protests and increased media attention on police misconduct, 51 officers were killed nationwide. That was a jump from the 27 killed in 2013 and many took it as a sign of greater danger for police. 
 
 Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and an assistant law professor at the University of South Carolina, calls that interpretation "nonsense." 
 
 "It's misleading to compare one year to another year," he says. 
 
 toggle caption Source: Seth Stoughton's analysis of the FBI's LEOKA data, consolidated by the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. Credit: Camila Domonoske/NPR 
 
 Stoughton has been collecting and analyzing these data going back decades. He says 2014 looked bad in comparison with 2013 mainly because 2013 was so good. 
 
 "2013 was the safest year for police officers, ever," he says. "The safest year in recorded history." 
 
 In fact, in the larger scheme of things, 2014 looks pretty normal. The number of murders of police was about the same as 2012, and actually a lot lower than 2011. 
 
 The long-term trend is even more encouraging: On average, only about half as many police are murdered every year now, as compared with the 1970s. Stoughton says some of that improvement is probably due to better training, better gear and radically improved trauma care for cops who are shot. 
 
 But he says the numbers suggest officers are also facing fewer attacks: The number of assaults on police has also fallen, though not as sharply. 
 
 Stoughton says he's not saying police work isn't dangerous — it certainly is. And he also admits we may be seeing a few more ambush killings — cops attacked just because they're cops. 
 
 But it's hard to isolate motives in these numbers, and any uptick is probably in the single digits. 
 
 "When we're talking about 780,000 state and local police officers who are interacting with people on 67 million occasions every year, the increase from five to eight, or five to 10 — statistically, it doesn't look significant," he says. 
 
 But statistical analysis is cold comfort to police officers after a colleague has been ambushed. Some officers have been understandably shaken. 
 
 In a video that made the rounds soon after the Texas deputy was killed, a Miami officer named Lydia Marquez records herself in her car. 
 
 "When I kiss my children in the morning before I go to work, I don't know if I'm going to be coming back at the end of the day," she says. "Especially nowadays." 
 
 Marquez ends her video defiantly, with the phrase that's become a rallying cry for many cops since Ferguson: "All lives matter. Everyone's life matters." 
 
 I think that this 'war on cops' rhetoric is just another way to protect police from accountability. 
 
 "All lives matter" may sound noble, but activists hear it as code for something else. 
 
 "The way that people use the phrase is in direct opposition to 'Black Lives Matter,' " says Daunasia Yancey, a prominent member of the Black Lives Matter movement in Boston. 
 
 "I think that this 'war on cops' rhetoric is just another way to protect police from accountability," she says. "What they're facing is not violence; it's accountability." 
 
 Soon after Goforth's murder, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick condemned what he called the "negative attitude" toward police. Accused of using the killing to shut down legitimate criticism of police, Patrick took aim at the media. On the public radio show Texas Standard, the host tried to ask him about all the recent videos showing police misconduct. 
 
 U.S. What Happens When A Police Officer Doesn't Shoot? What Happens When A Police Officer Doesn't Shoot? Listen · 4:24 4:24 
 
 "Your type of interview has to stop," Patrick said. 
 
 "Yes, there are people in every profession who cross the line and should be fired," he continued. "Quit focusing on that small percentage of those in law enforcement who have made a mistake." 
 
 Edward Conlon, a retired New York police detective who writes about police work, says his former colleagues feel unfairly judged by the mistakes of a few. He says they haven't seen evidence of a "war on cops," but they do feel embattled when it comes to public opinion. 
 
 It's not even half right that cops are at war with black America, and it's not even half right that there's a war on cops. 
 
 "The notion that there is an epidemic of violence by police is just a really hard thing to swallow," he says. 
 
 And he sees a parallel here. He thinks both sides are guilty of drawing dramatic conclusions from isolated cases. 
 
 "It's not even half right that cops are at war with black America, and it's not even half right that there's a war on cops, in any big or broad sense," Conlon says. 
 
 But there does seem to be at least one kind of war going on: a war of perceptions, driven by competing feelings of grievance. ||||| Defense: Goforth was meeting a woman at the time of his death 
 
 The lawyer for a man accused of killing Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth last month said the slain lawman had a reason to be at a Chevron station that night other than filling up his patrol car. 
 
 "My understanding is that he was at this station meeting with this young lady who has been identified as a witness," said Anthony Osso, who is representing Shannon Miles, charged with capital murder in the case. 
 
 RELATED: Judge limits access to records in deputy's shooting 
 
 Standing outside his downtown Houston office, Osso said determining why Goforth was at the Chevron is crucial. For the killing to be considered a capital murder in this case, it would need to involve a deputy acting in the "lawful discharge of an official duty," Osso said. 
 
 If Goforth was there to meet with the unidentified woman, rather than to gas up his patrol car, that could prove critical to the defense, Osso said at the press availability. 
 
 "From my client's standpoint, this would no longer be a capital murder but it would be murder," Osso argued. "I want to get (the death penalty) off the table." 
 
 RELATED: Eyewitness comes forward in deputy's slaying 
 
 Osso has seen the security video taken from the scene that night but has agreed not to discuss it. He is seeking all the gas records for Goforth over the past 12 months until Aug. 28 when he was gunned down in what authorities called an ambush outside the Chevron station on Telge at West. 
 
 Sheriff's officials said Goforth, 47, was on duty and stopped at the station to fill up his patrol car following a routine accident investigation. 
 
 An ongoing case 
 
 Osso acknowledged there is not a lot of case law on the books about what exactly defines a "lawful discharge of an official duty." 
 
 "This could be a highly litigated issue," he added. 
 
 Officials with the Harris County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the legal strategy, saying the Goforth shooting was still an ongoing case. 
 
 The deputy remained on the clock and standing beside his patrol car when prosecutors said Miles, 30, came up behind him and began shooting at him. But in an interview, Stanley Schneider, another Houston criminal defense attorney, said that does not automatically make a case for capital murder. 
 
 "Just because someone knows you're a peace officer (at the time of a murder), that is not enough to make it capital murder," he said. 
 
 'Romantic relationship' 
 
 An eyewitness to last month's shooting death told investigators she had been in a "romantic relationship" with the slain lawman for more than a year. 
 
 Schneider said that if lawyers for Miles can prove Goforth went to the Chevron station to meet the woman, it could make a compelling argument that he was not acting in an official capacity at the time of his death. "That's going to be for the jury to decide," he said. 
 
 Osso said his client has not confessed to the shooting and has no connection with Goforth or the woman. 
 
 RELATED: Search warrant outlines discoveries after Goforth shooting 
 
 "I have nothing to suggest they knew each other," he said. 
 
 In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Sheriff Ron Hickman and others suggested a possible link between Goforth's slaying and the Black Lives Matter movement. The group protests alleged police brutality against African-Americans. 
 
 Osso said there's no connection between that movement and his client. 
 
 "I'm not even sure my client knew there was a (Black Lives Matter) movement going on," he said. 
 
 Miles spent four months in a mental hospital in 2012 after being declared incompetent to stand trial in an aggravated assault case. Osso said he is still trying to develop a rapport with his client. 
 
 "I don't ask him really serious questions. They require a yes or no response," he said. "He has to trust me and he doesn't know me." 
 
 <Dylan Baddour contributed to this report. ||||| Defense attorney Anthony Osso insists the alleged romantic relationship between a woman and the deputy matters in his client's case. (Photo: KHOU) 
 
 Editor’s Note: We want to let you know this is the first time we’ve reported these claims about Deputy Darren Goforth and another woman. And we’re doing it now only because the attorney for the deputy’s alleged killer is making the alleged relationship part of his defense strategy. We understand that all sides in this case have a job to do. But like many of you, we feel this is just another sad turn in an already tragic story. 
 
 HOUSTON — The attorney for the man accused of the execution-style murder of a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy insisted that an alleged romantic relationship between a woman and the victim matters to his client’s case. 
 
 “It’s extremely important to our case,” said defense attorney Anthony Osso. “My concern about the relationship is what took place while he was at the Chevron station.” 
 
 Surveillance video captured the moment of Deputy Darren Goforth’s murder. Prosecutors say it shows Shannon Miles shooting the married father of two at close range and then standing over his body and emptying the clip. In all, Goforth was shot 15 times. 
 
 Harris County Sheriff Deputy Darren Goforth. (Photo: HCSO) 
 
 Investigators have said Goforth had stopped at the station to refuel his patrol unit. But Osso claims he has evidence that the deputy was there for the sole purpose of meeting the woman, and believes his death should not be considered a capital offense. Court documents reveal a female witness to Goforth's murder claims she had a 15-month romantic relationship with Goforth. 
 
 “In order for a case to be considered a capital murder in Texas when it involves a police officer shooting, the officer, or deputy in this case, has to be in the lawful discharge of an official duty,” said Osso. 
 
 KHOU 11 News legal expert Gerald Treece said Osso’s claims were baseless and part of a long-held strategy for attorneys reaching for some type of a defense. 
 
 “It just doesn’t matter,” Treece said. “The first trick of every defense lawyer is to blame the victim.” 
 
 A spokesman for the sheriff’s office insisted that Goforth was on duty at the time of the shooting and that all of his actions at the gas station were in the scope of his normal work responsibilities. 
 
 Defense attorney Anthony Osso told reporters Monday that he will use that information to convince jurors that Goforth was not on official duty and that his client should not face capital murder. 
 
 Some people think the defense is just trying to muddy the water. 
 
 “I just want to say it’s BS, though,” Ken Stolte said. “If I was on the jury, I would definitely see through that and it would come out bad for them.” 
 
 “It is sickening for the wife and children,” Linda Johnston said. 
 
 "(Goforth’s) personal life is not for us to judge. Does anyone deserve to be shot in the head and then while lying on the ground shot another 15 times?” Kathy Driskell commented on the KHOU 11 News Facebook page. 
 
 Others say Osso is just doing his job. 
 
 “As a lawyer in the United States of America, (Osso’s) job is to get his client off,” Gerald Taylor said. 
 
 As for Osso: “I’m just going to go on what the facts are,” he said. “I’m just going to tell you that we have an issue. And it’s a legal issue that we have to raise.” 
 
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– A recent Rasmussen poll found 58% of respondents believe a "war on police" exists. The sentiment is being echoed publicly: After Shannon J. Miles was arrested for killing Sheriff Deputy Darren Goforth at a gas station in Houston, a local DA remarked that "there are a few bad apples in every profession. That does not mean there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement." NPR reports some people are using this stat as evidence of that war: In 2013, 27 US officers were "feloniously killed"; a year later, the number was 51. But Seth Stoughton, a former cop and assistant law professor, says this so-called war is, in fact, imaginary. "It's misleading to compare one year to another year," says Stoughton. "2013 was the safest year for police officers, ever," as in, "the safest year in recorded history." The number of police deaths last year was on par with 2012 and significantly lower than in 2011. We're now on track to have 35 felonious police deaths this year, which would be the second-lowest number in decades after 2013, writes Radley Balko at the Washington Post. The number of officers murdered has dropped by 50% compared to the 1970s, Stoughton says, and while things like improved protective gear play a role in that, assaults on officers are also down. More ambush killings, like the one in Houston, may be occurring, but "the increase from five to eight, or five to 10" over 67 million police-citizen interactions every year, "statistically, it doesn't look significant," Stoughton says.