According to Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, 240 police have been killed in the line of duty so far this year.
“In this year alone I believe we’ve had 240 police murdered…too many,” said Santos. “At the same time, however, it is a sacrifice that we all want to praise.”
Speaking at the ceremony for the Fundación Corazón Verde, an award devoted to honoring bravery in police work, the president supported the year’s work of the Colombian police force, and denounced the “cowardly” strategies of assassination used by the FARC and other criminal elements, reports the Colombian daily El Tiempo.
According to a military report cited in a recent La Patria article, only two police officers had been killed between 2009 and the first half of 2010, while 28 were killed in the first month of the Santos administration. Thus, if the president’s figures are correct, 210 police have been killed since August, representing a dramatic increase in the number of police deaths this year.