Cop Carnage

"We're police officers," said Patrolman Frank Bugdin sharply. "Come out with your hands up." Then Bugdin pulled the right rear door of the taxi open. A single bullet ripped through his chest near his heart. Before he died, Bugdin emptied his gun into the cab. So did his partner. When the Shootout was over, Bugdin's killer, who was a city housing policeman, also lay dying. The fight had no known motive, though the housing patrolman had been out on the town drinking. To shocked New Yorkers, last week's deaths were the latest in an unparalleled month of carnage for the city's cops. The New York City police fatality toll for 1975 is now four--as high as the total for all of 1974.

Throughout the nation, the FBI reports, 14 policemen have been killed so far this year, up four from the same period last year. Since 1961, when the FBI began totaling police slayings in the line of duty, the figures have gone up in almost every year--from 37 in '61 to 116, 134 and 132 in the past three years. Periodic rumors of an organized plot against cops have definitely been discounted by investigators.

The escalated hazards have prompted police to start stashing shotguns in squad cars, sometimes defying local department rules. One side effect is that jumpy officers may be shooting more civilians, though no national figures are kept on that problem. Burgeoning sales are reported for a new lightweight bullet-resistant vest. There is renewed talk of the death penalty for cop killers. And many urban police chiefs believe more than ever that strict gun laws are an absolute necessity.

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