article_snippet: Such ambush-style attacks were the leading circumstance in the surging number of shooting deaths of law enforcement officers, according to the nonprofit, Washington-based National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
article_snippet: St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said The shootings were an "ambush" intended "for whatever nefarious reason" to inflict harm on the officers.
article_snippet: The number of law enforcement officers shot to death in the line of duty rose more than 50% in 2014, the law enforcement group said in a report released in December.
article_snippet: However, ambushes were the largest single category of circumstances in the shooting deaths of officers in 2014, according to a report released in December.
article_snippet: Fifty officers were killed by firearms -- 15 in ambush attacks -- in 2014, the Memorial Fund said.
article_snippet: That's compared with five ambushes among 32 shooting deaths in 2013 and six ambush deaths during 2012, according to the FBI.
article_snippet: But those ambush numbers have trended higher before in previous years: the FBI counted 15 officer deaths by ambush each year in 2011, 2010 and 2009.
article_snippet: Ambush situations were the biggest category of circumstance behind 543 officers feloniously killed from 2002 to 2011: 23.2%.
article_snippet: Ambush killings are nothing new.
article_snippet: According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund 2014 report, 126 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers died in the line of duty in 2014, compared with 102 and 123 the previous two years.
article_snippet: But the number of shootings by police officers also is on the rise.
article_snippet: The total number of fatal shootings by police officers is much higher -- 1,010 in 2013 and 1,134 last year, according to the nonprofit Fatal Encounters.
highlights_snippet: Of the 50, 15 were killed in ambushes .