More than 900,000 law enforcement officers are now serving in the United States, the highest figure ever recorded. Meanwhile, violent and property crime rates in 2008 were at the lowest levels recorded since 1973, the first year that such data was collected. In fact, the overall violent crime rate fell 41% and the property crime rate by 32% over the last decade. Still, crime fighting has taken it's toll. Since the first recorded police death in 1792, there have been nearly 19,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, most of who's names are immortalized on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial. While nearly 1,700 officers died in the line of duty over the last ten years, the number of deaths annually has continually declined, with last years 116 being the lowest annual total since 1989. Still a somber reminder of the sacrifice made by our nations law enforcement men and women.