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LOS ANGELES—Crime is down across the country, but more law-enforcement officers are dying on the job, federal officials said Thursday, citing new research that shows fatalities among police and federal agents are on the rise.

So far this year, 130 law-enforcement officers working for local and federal police agencies nationwide were killed while on duty—an increase of 15% over the same period in 2010, according to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, which tracks officer deaths.

"There are new threats that arise each and every day against law-enforcement officers," said Andre Birotte Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, speaking to a group of about 1,500 police and federal agents gathered here for safety training. "The numbers speak for themselves."

Records show that shooting deaths of officers rose sharply so far in 2011 compared with last year. This year, 53 officers nationwide have been shot to death, compared with 40 during the same period in 2010, a 33% increase. For the first time in 13 years, gun deaths outpaced traffic-related deaths as the primary cause of officer fatalities, according to the Memorial Fund.

It is unclear why deadly assaults on police officers are on the rise, said law-enforcement officials and those who study the fatalities. The issue has caught the attention of law-enforcement leaders from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to small-town police chiefs. Some speculate that as local budgets are cut, officers are stretched too thinly and valuable training is dropped. Others said career criminals were simply more willing to shoot at officers to avoid prison.

"Even though crime is going down nationwide, assaults against law-enforcement officials are going up," said John Torres, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

That paradox is "the million dollar question and we're all studying it and trying to figure it out," said Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, who commands a police force of nearly 10,000.

New figures released Thursday by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department showed a continued decline in crime in Los Angeles County. Violent crime was down nearly 13% at the end of August, compared with the same time period last year.

Violent crime in Los Angeles has dropped 35% since 2005. In 2010, the crime rate in Los Angeles was the lowest it has been in four decades. And crime continues to decline in the city in 2011.

But assaults on police officers are on the rise, Chief Beck said. Los Angeles police officers were assaulted with deadly weapons 130 times this year, he said, a 29% increase over last year. Two officers were wounded by gunfire.

Mr. Beck said one reason for the increase in gun clashes is that more policing is happening "at the point of the spear." As there are more officers and fewer crimes to chase, police officers are more likely to focus on confronting suspects during a crime in progress, rather than after the fact, Mr. Beck says.

This year the deadliest states for law-enforcement officers are Texas, with 12 deaths, Florida with 11, New York with 9, and California, Ohio and Tennessee, each with 7 deaths.

Since 2001, when 240 law enforcement officers were killed—72 in the Sept. 11 terror attacks—annual law-enforcement deaths have stayed below 200 a year, records show. The number of fatalities declined in 2008 and 2009, but started to rise in 2010 and 2011.

In March, Mr. Holder called the rise in officer deaths "unacceptable" and ordered safety training around the country to try to reverse the trend.

The deadliest times for law-enforcement officials came during periods in the late 1920s and early '30s during the Prohibition years, and the 1970s, during years of massive civil unrest. According to records, the two deadliest years for law enforcement were in 1930, when 286 law enforcement officers were killed, and in 1974, when 280 died.

Law-enforcement officials told officers Thursday their jobs could get more dangerous when California prisons release or move 30,000 low-level offenders to county jails or parole starting Oct. 1. The plan is meant to ease overcrowding in state prisons, but law-enforcement officials worry about a spike in crime.

"We're going to have some bad guys amongst us," Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said. "And you guys will be dealing with those people."

Write to Tamara Audi at [email protected]