How many police officers die in the line of duty?
In 2024, over 100 officers died while on duty. Of those deaths, nearly 60% were purposeful killings, and 40% were accidental.
In 2024, 107 officers died in the line of duty, according to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted report. Sixty-four were killed feloniously, primarily by firearms.
Since the FBI began collecting data on officer deaths in 1996, annual deaths have ranged from a low of 76 in 2013 to a high of 146 in 2001. There were 13 more officer deaths in 2024 than in 2023.
Officer deaths dropped 26.7% since their peak in 2001.
Total law enforcement deaths in the line of duty, 1996–2024
Despite the number of officers who die while operating in their official capacity, law enforcement does not rank in the top 10 deadliest professions in the US according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
How does the FBI categorize police officer deaths?
The FBI collects data on the assaults and deaths of on-the-job officers, categorizing them as either felonious or accidental.
“Felonious killing” is an official term describing an incident in which an officer is fatally injured as a direct result of an intentional act (e.g., being shot at). An accidental killing is a fatal injury after an unintentional incident or negligence (e.g., being struck by a passing car).
Neither includes work-related exposures that may lead to illness or death (e.g., deaths due to COVID-19 or 9/11-related illnesses) or suicides.
What is the top cause of death for police officers on duty?
In 2024, felonious killings accounted for 64 of the 107 officer deaths. Among those, 72% had gunshot wounds and 39% followed unlawful or suspicious activity or during a traffic stop.
From 2021 to 2024, there were 258 felonious officer deaths, the most in any four-year period over the past 20 years.
Accidental police officer deaths — 43 of 2024’s 107 officer deaths — have dropped since 2011. Before 2011 there was an average of 70 accidental deaths each year; since 2011, the average has been 48.
Felonious killings have increased 56% in the last decade.
Total law enforcement deaths in the line of duty by type of incident, 1996–2024
Forty-three officers were accidentally killed in 2024. Twenty-nine (67% of accidental deaths) of those deaths came from motor vehicle related causes.
Another common cause of accidental death is exiting a vehicle on a roadway: in 2024, nearly one of four officer deaths happened when the officer was struck by a vehicle outside their patrol car.
The CDC recommends situational awareness, working within a temporary traffic control zone, avoiding the gap between vehicles, and approaching vehicles on the passenger side during stops to reduce the likelihood of incident.
Which areas of the US had the highest number of police officers killed on duty?
The South lost 49 on-duty officers, nearly twice the death rate of any other region. The South — made of 16 states and Washington, DC, — is also the region with the most employed officers, most law enforcement agencies, and largest population.
The Midwest had the second-highest number of deaths at 26, while the West and Northeast had 15 and 10 respectively and two officers were killed in US territories.
Officer deaths decreased in the West and Northeast from 2023 to 2024 but rose in the Midwest and South.
Do police officers have one of the nation’s most dangerous jobs?
The BLS did not rank policing in the top 10 deadly professions in the US in 2023, the most recent year of available data.
BLS ranks professions by the number of on-the-job fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent employees. Logging workers had the highest fatality rate at 98.9 deaths per 100,000 workers; officers’ rate was 11.3 deaths per 100,000 officers.
Which industries have the deadliest occupations?
After logging workers, the occupations with the highest fatality rates were fishing and hunting workers (86.9), roofers (51.8), and refuse and recyclable material collectors (41.4). Police officers ranked 20th among occupations for on-the-job deaths.
In 2023, police officers ranked 20th in occupational deaths.
Civilian occupations with the highest fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, 2023
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