U.S. police officers are now more concerned about their personal safety than in previous years as fatal attacks on cops have escalated, according to a new report.
A striking 93 percent of the 8,000 officers surveyed by Pew Research said they now fear for their safety. The survey was conducted between May and August, encompassing reactions to the ambush-style attacks against police officers such as those in Dallas and Baton Rouge that killed eight officers in July.
"Do we feel we're targeted right now? Yes," an unnamed 12-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department told a local CBS affiliate Wednesday evening.
Some 42 percent of officers told Pew they often or nearly always have serious concerns about their safety, a sentiment that was consistent before and after the Dallas ambush. A 2016 study found a ten percent increase in the number of police deaths from the previous year, with 135 officers killed in the line of duty. Twenty-one of those killed were ambushed.
"It's more dangerous, now you have officers watching their backs, even with your family, because the bad guys get to know you, they may see you at the mall, the movies, there's a heightened awareness," veteran Dallas PD officer George Aranda told the local CBS affiliate.
Police are also deeply skeptical of the protests that have followed deadly clashes between officers and black men in the U.S., with two-thirds believing the demonstrations are motivated by anti-police bias.
About nine-in-ten officers from the nation's largest departments said interactions with black individuals have become more tense over the past year, largely because of these incidents.