Law enforcement deaths for 2009 reach 125

WASHINGTON (AP) — The death of a Washington state police officer Dec. 28 raised the total law enforcement deaths in 2009 to 125, still the fewest annual fatalities in the line of duty since 1959.

The 125 deaths compared to 133 in 2008, the lowest since 108 a half-century ago, according to the annual report of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The latest to die was 44-year-old Pierce County, Wash. sheriff's deputy Kent Mundell, who had been on life support. Shot in an ambush by a drunken man, he was the sixth police officer to die from gunfire in Washington state in less than two months.