CHICAGO (AP) — The recent slaying of a Chicago Police officer underlines something police in the city have been saying for months: They're increasingly confronting people willing to attack them.
Officer Michael Flisk was the fifth Chicago officer killed in the line of duty this year — the most in the past quarter century. Also, the number of reports of battery on police officers has climbed significantly in the last decade.
Police and others say there may be a number of explanations for the increase in the number of batteries on police officers while the overall violent crime rate has fallen.
They say criminals don't respect police as they once did. And they worry that the fact that the department has shrunk by hundreds of officers in recent years has emboldened criminals.
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