"I think we're up to 56 officers this year,” said St. Pete Police Officer Cory Crawford.
Four police officers shot on Sunday.
Today police nationwide are being warned, reminded in roll calls they have a target on their backs.
"Usually when there's occurrences like this, they have them in some of a discussion in read-off, and just to let people know that there are people out there who are trying to hurt you,” said Officer Crawford.
Officer Cory Crawford is a community police officer with St. Pete Police spending his time making a positive impact.
He also makes sure other officers have support.
"If you're not assigned to a call, people start traveling in that direction just to make sure that everything is going to be ok,” he said.
One of the shootings left a San Antonio 20 year force veteran dead when a man pulled up behind him and shot him as he wrote a ticket in front of the police station.
"You hear the term 'routine traffic' stops and there is nothing routine about it. You have no idea who you're pulling over, what they've done,” said Officer Crawford.
The Officer Down Memorial website www.ompd.org , which tracks officers killed in the line of duty, shows a 10% increase in the number of officer deaths this year and a 71% increase by firearm.
Statistics Officer Crawford says he's aware of but won't dwell on.
"You have to keep safety in the back of your mind at all times but again you can't let that paralyze you from doing your job,” he said.
