Line of duty death statistics

Most people realize that a job in law enforcement can be hazardous. The term law enforcement officer (or LEO) refers to any officer from any department who enforces the many laws around the country. They include police officers, sheriffs, deputies, detectives, SWAT teams, game wardens, some park rangers, members of the U.S. Marshals, and more. Many of those LEOs are killed in the line of duty each year.

As an example, in the period from 1976 to 1998, on average one LEO was killed every fifty-seven minutes. In those years, the deaths resulted during or shortly after the following situations:
- 16% killed after responding to a disturbance - domestic or civil
- 14% while attempting to stop an armed robber
- 14% while investigating a suspicious person or situation
- 13% during traffic pursuits or stops
- 13% during attempted arrests for crimes other than robbery or burglary
- 10% when the officers were ambushed by a criminal
- 7% attempting to make arrests for drug-related crimes
- 5% attempting an arrest for burglary
- 6% for other reasons

More recent line of duty deaths shown by numbers show that there were 129 line of duty deaths in 2021. Of those deaths, 73 were classified as felonious and 56 as accidental. The felonious deaths are further broken down to show the number of deaths caused by weapons. Firearms caused the largest number of deaths - 61. Others include 6 by vehicles used as weapons and 4 by being beaten. Here are the list of causes:
- 32 motor vehicle crashes (accidental)
- 24 unprovoked attacks
- 20 struck by vehicles (accidental)
- 9 during investigative or enforcement activities (not listed elsewhere)
- 8 during vehicular of foot pursuits
- 8 ambushed
- 6 during tactical situations
- 4 while making arrests
- 4 by drowning (accidental)
- 2 while responding to crimes in progress
- 1 while assisting other LEOs
- 1 while serving a court order
- 1 while out of service (break, court appearance, etc)
- 1 while responding to the report of a crime
- 1 while deploying equipment (flares, cones, etc)

Source for 2021 statistics:
Law Enforcement Officers Killed in the Line of Duty Statistics for 2021; Law Enforcement Bulletin; Perine, Tara A and Janine T Arnold; 11/29/2022