In one of the world's most dangerous places to be a cop, officers are often killed for their weapons, cars and sometimes for something as small as a phone. In 2014, Venezuela reported 268 police officers were murdered, Reuters reported via Foundation for Due Press

According to local monitoring and rights group Foundation for Due Process, or Fundepro, police murders rose 25 percent in 2014 and have accelerated so far in 2015 to nearly one a day.

Police officers' deaths are also attributed to revenge killings and shootouts with criminals.

According to a Venezuelan officer, "If I put a criminal in jail, he'll be out within days, and without doubt, he'll look for me in my house to shoot me dead. And on police salaries, we can't live in luxury mansions but in 'barrios' or lower middle-class zones right next to the gangs."

The United States has a population 10 times bigger than Venezuela, and the FBI says 27 law enforcement officers were killed in 2013. For Venezuela, 214 officers were killed in 2013.

In Honduras, the world's worst country for homicide has far fewer killings of policemen than Venezuela. According to data by the U.N., Honduras had a murder rate of 90.4 per 100,000 people in 2012, versus 53.7 in Venezuela. According to Honduras' government, there were 35 police killings in 2013 and 32 between January and November of last year. 

The United Nations said Venezuela is the world's second worst country for homicides overall.

Despite the high rate of police officer deaths, Venezuelan citizens are unsympathetic to officers. Police are often murdered at the hands of criminals, but some are also considered criminals themselves. There are extremely high rates of police corruption and crime in the country .

The government said police are frequently involved in crimes. To combat police corruption, the government created a commission to cleanse the Venezuelan police of criminals. So far they've raided several units across the country and removed supervisors believed to be corrupt.

In one incident, a senior detective was found to be receiving money from a ransom of a kidnapped businessman, said Freddy Bernal, head of a presidential commission to change Venezuela's police.