US police deaths reach 135 this year, highest in five years

A total of 135 US police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2016, the highest number in the past five years.

The number also marks a 10-percent increase from last year, according to data by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).

At least 64 of the fallen officers were shot dead, which is a 56-percent rise compared to the 41 officers, who were shot and killed last year.

At least 21 of the officers were killed in ambush style attacks, amid growing anti-police sentiments across the US due to their excessive use of force against minorities.

A separate report by the NLEOMF shows that ambush-style killings of US police forces have increased by 300 percent since last year.

In July, five officers in Dallas, Texas, and 10 days later, three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were fatally shot following the police fatal shootings of two black men in separate incidents.

Texas had the most officer deaths this year at 17 cops, followed by California at 10.

This is while the number of those killed or injured by US police appears significantly higher as "on an average day, three people die and 150 people are treated at a hospital because they are injured by police," said Ted Miller with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

According to a study by Miller's institute, an estimated 55,400 people were killed or injured by police in 2012.

Anti-police sentiments peaked in the United States this year after the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two African Americans who lost their lives at the hands of US police in separate incidents in the US states of Louisiana and Minnesota respectively.

Massive protests were subsequently held across the country by Black Lives Matter activists, outraged after videos showing their deaths were released.

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