Since the 1780s, over 25,000 United States law enforcement officers have died while on active duty, or due to injuries and illnesses obtained while on duty. Gunfire is responsible for over half of all total law enforcement deaths recorded, particularly before the 1930s. From this point on, the total share of gunfire deaths has decreased significantly, mostly due to the increase in vehicle or health related deaths, although gunfire has remained the most common individual cause of death in almost every year. Gunfire deaths These deaths rose steadily after the Civil War, and peaked at over 200 annual deaths during the 1920s, due to the increase in criminal activity during prohibition. Because of this, the National Firearms Act of 1934 was introduced in an attempt to reduce gun-related crime, by requiring the registration of any transfer of ownership and imposing a tax on gun manufacturers and distributors. After Prohibition's end and the introduction of these measures, annual law enforcement deaths from gunfire have been well below 100 in almost every year, except for a brief spike in the early 1970s, during the crime wave that began in the 1960s and the beginning of the "War on Drugs". Overall, gunfire deaths of law enforcement have fallen since the 1970s, reaching a low of just 34 deaths in 2013. In contrast, the total number of people killed by police shootings has consistently been above one thousand for most of the past decade.

Increase in health-related deaths

The majority of non-gunfire deaths are a result of vehicle-related accidents, and the number of crashes and accidents rose throughout the 20th century in line with the increase in car ownership. However, the number of deaths from heart attacks and job-related illness has also risen over time, due to the aging of the population and increasingly unhealthy lifestyle trends across the country. In recent decades, additional health issues have emerged that have had a disproportionate impact on law enforcement. In 2001, 72 officers died as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks, and over 350 additional deaths have been attributed to the adverse health effects (primarily respiratory illnesses) sustained by first responders from law enforcement. From 2020-2022, COVID-19 became the largest single cause of law enforcement deaths. Figures relate to cases where the individual contracted COVID-19 while on duty, and highlights the increased exposure to the virus faced by those considered to be frontline or essential workers. This number is likely to fall in the future as infection rates fall and newer strains of the virus are less lethal.

As of September 30, there were 54 law enforcement officers killed in the United States in 2024. Within the provided time period, the highest number of law enforcement officers killed in the United States was reported in 2021, at 73 officers.

In 2022, a total of 226 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in the United States. This is a significant decrease from the year before, when 458 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in the United States.

The study was a comprehensive analysis of felonious killings of officers. The purposes of the study were (1) to analyze the nature and circumstances of incidents of felonious police killings and (2) to analyze trends in the numbers and rates of killings across different types of agencies and to explain these differences. For Part 1, Incident-Level Data, an incident-level database was created to capture all incidents involving the death of a police officer from 1983 through 1992. Data on officers and incidents were collected from the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) data collection as coded by the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. In addition to the UCR data, the Police Foundation also coded information from the LEOKA narratives that are not part of the computerized LEOKA database from the FBI. For Part 2, Agency-Level Data, the researchers created an agency-level database to research systematic differences among rates at which law enforcement officers had been feloniously killed from 1977 through 1992. The investigators focused on the 56 largest law enforcement agencies because of the availability of data for explanatory variables. Variables in Part 1 include year of killing, involvement of other officers, if the officer was killed with his/her own weapon, circumstances of the killing, _location of fatal wounds, distance between officer and offender, if the victim was wearing body armor, if different officers were killed in the same incident, if the officer was in uniform, actions of the killer and of the officer at entry and final stage, if the killer was visible at first, if the officer thought the killer was a felon suspect, if the officer was shot at entry, and circumstances at anticipation, entry, and final stages. Demographic variables for Part 1 include victim's sex, age, race, type of assignment, rank, years of experience, agency, population group, and if the officer was working a security job. Part 2 contains variables describing the general municipal environment, such as whether the agency is located in the South, level of poverty according to a poverty index, population density, percent of population that was Hispanic or Black, and population aged 15-34 years old. Variables capturing the crime environment include the violent crime rate, property crime rate, and a gun-related crime index. Lastly, variables on the environment of the police agencies include violent and property crime arrests per 1,000 sworn officers, percentage of officers injured in assaults, and number of sworn officers.

In 2022, significantly more male law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in the United States than did female law enforcement officers. In that year, 204 male law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in the United States.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2022, 33 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty in Texas -- the most out of any state. New York, California, Georgia, and Tennessee rounded out the top five states for law enforcement fatalities in 2020.

In 2023, the majority of law enforcement officers that were killed in the United States were white. That year, 53 white law enforcement officers as well as four Black officers were killed. Overall, a total of 60 law enforcement officers were killed in the United States in that year.

Since 1930, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has compiled the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) to serve as a periodic nationwide assessment of reported crimes not available elsewhere in the criminal justice system. Each year, this information is reported in four types of files: (1) Offenses Known and Clearances by Arrest, (2) Property Stolen and Recovered, (3) Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR), and (4) Police Employee (LEOKA) Data. The Police Employee (LEOKA) Data provide information about law enforcement officers killed or assaulted (hence the acronym, LEOKA) in the line of duty. The variables created from the LEOKA forms provide in-depth information on the circumstances surrounding killings or assaults, including type of call answered, type of weapon used, and type of patrol the officers were on. self-enumerated questionnaireStarting with the year 1998, each of the four parts of the UCR data collection archived by ICPSR is released as a separate study under its own study number. The Police Employee data for the years 1975-1997 can be found in UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM DATA [UNITED STATES]: 1975-1997 (ICPSR 9028). Datasets: DS1: Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: Police Employee (LEOKA) Data, 2004 Law enforcement officers killed or assaulted as reported by law enforcement agencies. inap.

Police death toll statistics......................

The killing of Tyre Nichols in January 2023 by Memphis Police Officers has reignited debates about police brutality in the United States. Between 2013 and 2024, over 1,000 people have been killed by police in every year. Some of the most infamous examples include the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, and the shooting of Breonna Taylor earlier that year. Within this time period, the most people killed by police in the United States was in 2023, at 1,353 people. Police Violence in the U.S. Police violence is defined as any instance where a police officer’s use of force results in a civilian’s death, regardless of whether it is considered justified by the law. While many people killed by police in the U.S. were shot, other causes of death have included tasers, vehicles, and physical restraints or beatings. In the United States, the rate of police shootings is much higher for Black Americans than it is for any other ethnicity and recent incidents of police killing unarmed Black men and women in the United States have led to widespread protests against police brutality, particularly towards communities of color. America’s Persistent Police Problem Despite increasing visibility surrounding police violence in recent years, police killings have continued to occur in the United States at a consistently high rate. In comparison to other countries, police in the U.S. have killed people at a rate three times higher than police in Canada, and 60 times the rate of police in England. While U.S. police have killed people in almost all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, New Mexico was reported to have the highest rate of people killed by the police in the United States, with 8.03 people per million inhabitants killed by police.

In 2020, Brazil recorded over *** deaths of police officers, the largest figure since, at least, 2017. The following year the number fell to a total of ***. In 2023, the number increased to *** deaths. Moreover, during 2023, the number of people killed by police officers in Brazil registered a year-on-year decrease of nearly one percent points.

From 2010 to 2019, the number of male law enforcement officers killed in the United States has greatly exceeded the number of female law enforcement officers. In 2019, 45 male law enforcement officers were killed while three female law enforcement officers were killed.

In 2023, the most common circumstance a law officer was killed at the scene in the United States was during an investigative or enforcement assignment, such as for a drug-related matter, a wanted person, or a traffic violation stop. Within this year, 13 law enforcement officers died under these circumstances. Another nine law enforcement officers died during a crime in progress, while eight officers were killed while in pursuit. In total, 60 law enforcement officers died were killed in 2023.

Since 1930, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has compiled the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) to serve as periodic nationwide assessments of reported crimes not available elsewhere in the criminal justice system. Law enforcement agencies contribute reports either directly or through their state reporting programs. Each year, summary data are reported in four types of files: (1) Offenses Known and Clearances by Arrest, (2) Property Stolen and Recovered, (3) Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR), and (4) Police Employee (LEOKA) Data. The Offenses Known and Clearances by Arrest data files include monthly data on the number of Crime Index offenses reported and the number of offenses cleared by arrest or other means. The counts include all reports of Index crimes (excluding arson) received from victims, officers who discovered infractions, or other sources.

Analysis of ‘💉 Opioid Overdose Deaths’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/yamqwe/opioid-overdose-deathse on 13 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

About this dataset

Opioid addiction and death rates in the U.S. and abroad have reached "epidemic" levels. The CDC's data reflects the incredible spike in overdoses caused by drugs containing opioids.

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose (poisoning) deaths. Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137%, including a 200% increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids (opioid pain relievers and heroin). Source: CDC

In-the-News:

• STAT: 26 overdoses in just hours: Inside a community on the front lines of the opioid epidemic
• NPR: Organ Donations Spike In The Wake Of The Opioid Epidemic, Deadly Opioid Overwhelms First Responders And Crime Labs in Ohio
• Scientific American: Wave of Overdoses with Little-Known Drug Raises Alarm Amid Opioid Crisis
• Washington Post: A 7-year-old told her bus driver she couldn’t wake her parents. Police found them dead at home.
• Wall Street Journal: For Small-Town Cops, Opioid Scourge Hits Close to Home
• Food & Drug Administration: FDA launches competition to spur innovative technologies to help reduce opioid overdose deaths

This data was compiled using the CDC's WONDER database. Opioid overdose deaths are defined as: deaths in which the underlying cause was drug overdose, and the ICD-10 code used was any of the following: T40.0 (Opium), T40.1 (Heroin), T40.2 (Other opioids), T40.3 (Methadone), T40.4 (Other synthetic narcotics), T40.6 (Other and unspecified narcotics).

Age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths and drug overdose deaths involving opioids
http://i.imgur.com/ObpzUKq.gif" alt="Opioid Death Rate" style="">
Source: CDC

What are opioids?
Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Opioids are most often used medically to relieve pain. Opioids include opiates, an older term that refers to such drugs derived from opium, including morphine itself. Other opioids are semi-synthetic and synthetic drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl; antagonist drugs such as naloxone and endogenous peptides such as the endorphins.[4] The terms opiate and narcotic are sometimes encountered as synonyms for opioid. Source: Wikipedia

contributors-wanted See comment in Discussion

Footnotes

• The crude rate is per 100,000.
• Certain totals are hidden due to suppression constraints. More Information: http://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/faq.html#Privacy.
• The population figures are briged-race estimates. The exceptions being years 2000 and 2010, in which Census counts are used.
• v1.1: Added Opioid Prescriptions Dispensed by US Retailers in that year (millions).

Citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Multiple Cause of Death 1999-2014 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2015. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2014, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html on Oct 19, 2016 2:06:38 PM.

Citation for Opioid Prescription Data: IMS Health, Vector One: National, years 1991-1996, Data Extracted 2011. IMS Health, National Prescription Audit, years 1997-2013, Data Extracted 2014. Accessed at NIDA article linked (Figure 1) on Oct 23, 2016.

Data Use Restrictions:
The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m(d)) provides that the data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) may be used only for the purpose for which they were obtained; any effort to determine the identity of any reported cases, or to use the information for any purpose other than for health statistical reporting and analysis, is against the law. Therefore users will:
Use these data for health statistical reporting and analysis only.
For sub-national geography, do not present or publish death counts of 9 or fewer or death rates based on counts of nine or fewer (in figures, graphs, maps, tables, etc.).
Make no attempt to learn the identity of any person or establishment included in these data.
Make no disclosure or other use of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the NCHS Confidentiality Officer of any such discovery.
Eve Powell-Griner, Confidentiality Officer
National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Road, Rm 7116
Hyattsville, MD 20782
Telephone 301-458-4257 Fax 301-458-4021

This dataset was created by Health and contains around 800 samples along with Crude Rate, Crude Rate Lower 95% Confidence Interval, technical information and other features such as: - Year - Deaths - and more.

How to use this dataset

• Analyze Crude Rate Upper 95% Confidence Interval in relation to Prescriptions Dispensed By Us Retailers In That Year (millions)
• Study the influence of State on Crude Rate
• More datasets

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit Health

Start A New Notebook!

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

In 2023, the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo combined concentrated nearly half of the number of police officers killed in Brazil, with 36 and 25 deaths, respectively. Further, about 173 police officers were killed in Brazil in 2022.

Traffic fatalities within the City of Chicago that are included in Vision Zero Chicago (VZC) statistics. Vision Zero is Chicago’s commitment to eliminating fatalities and serious injuries from traffic crashes. The VZC Traffic Fatality List is compiled by the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) after monthly reviews of fatal traffic crash information provided by Chicago Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Unit (MAIU). CDOT uses a standardized process – sometimes differing from other sources and everyday use of the term -- to determine whether a death is a “traffic fatality.” Therefore, the traffic fatalities included in this list may differ from the fatal crashes reported in the full Traffic Crashes dataset (https://data.cityofchicago.org/d/85ca-t3if). Official traffic crash data are published by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) on an annual basis. This VZC Traffic Fatality List is updated monthly. Once IDOT publishes its crash data for a year, this dataset is edited to reflect IDOT’s findings. VZC Traffic Fatalities can be linked with other traffic crash datasets using the “Person_ID” field. State of Illinois considers a “traffic fatality” as any death caused by a traffic crash involving a motor vehicle, within 30 days of the crash. Fatalities that meet this definition are included in this VZC Traffic Fatality List unless excluded by any criteria below. There may be records in this dataset that do not appear as fatalities in the other datasets. The following criteria exclude a death from being considered a "traffic fatality," and are derived from Federal and State reporting standards. The Medical Examiner determined that the primary cause of the fatality was not the traffic crash, including: a. The fatality was reported as a suicide based on a police investigation. b. The fatality was reported as a homicide in which the "party at fault" intentionally inflicted serious bodily harm that caused the victim's death. c. The fatality was caused directly and exclusively by a medical condition or the fatality was not attributable to road user movement on a public roadway. (Note: If a person driving suffers a medical emergency and consequently hits and kills another road user, the other road user is included, although the driver suffering a medical emergency is excluded.) The crash did not occur within a trafficway. The crash involved a train or other such mode of transport within the rail dedicated right-of-way. The fatality was on a roadway not under Chicago Police Department jurisdiction, including: a. The fatality was occurred on an expressway. The City of Chicago does not have oversight on the expressway system. However, a fatality on expressway ramps occurring within the City jurisdiction will be counted in VZC Traffic Fatality List. b. The fatality occurred outside City limits. Crashes on streets along the City boundary may be assigned to another jurisdiction after the investigation if it is determined that the crash started or substantially occurred on the side of the street that is outside the City limits. Jurisdiction of streets along the City boundary are split between City and neighboring jurisdictions along the street centerline. The fatality is not a person (e.g., an animal). Change 12/7/2023: We have removed the RD_NO (Chicago Police Department report number) for privacy reasons.

The Motor Vehicle Collisions crash table contains details on the crash event. Each row represents a crash event. The Motor Vehicle Collisions data tables contain information from all police reported motor vehicle collisions in NYC. The police report (MV104-AN) is required to be filled out for collisions where someone is injured or killed, or where there is at least $1000 worth of damage (https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/ny_overlay_mv-104an_rev05_2004.pdf). It should be noted that the data is preliminary and subject to change when the MV-104AN forms are amended based on revised crash details.For the most accurate, up to date statistics on traffic fatalities, please refer to the NYPD Motor Vehicle Collisions page (updated weekly) or Vision Zero View (updated monthly).

Due to success of the CompStat program, NYPD began to ask how to apply the CompStat principles to other problems. Other than homicides, the fatal incidents with which police have the most contact with the public are fatal traffic collisions. Therefore in April 1998, the Department implemented TrafficStat, which uses the CompStat model to work towards improving traffic safety. Police officers complete form MV-104AN for all vehicle collisions. The MV-104AN is a New York State form that has all of the details of a traffic collision. Before implementing Trafficstat, there was no uniform traffic safety data collection procedure for all of the NYPD precincts. Therefore, the Police Department implemented the Traffic Accident Management System (TAMS) in July 1999 in order to collect traffic data in a uniform method across the City. TAMS required the precincts manually enter a few selected MV-104AN fields to collect very basic intersection traffic crash statistics which included the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities. As the years progressed, there grew a need for additional traffic data so that more detailed analyses could be conducted. The Citywide traffic safety initiative, Vision Zero started in the year 2014. Vision Zero further emphasized the need for the collection of more traffic data in order to work towards the Vision Zero goal, which is to eliminate traffic fatalities. Therefore, the Department in March 2016 replaced the TAMS with the new Finest Online Records Management System (FORMS). FORMS enables the police officers to electronically, using a Department cellphone or computer, enter all of the MV-104AN data fields and stores all of the MV-104AN data fields in the Department’s crime data warehouse. Since all of the MV-104AN data fields are now stored for each traffic collision, detailed traffic safety analyses can be conducted as applicable.

We present a theoretical model predicting that racially biased policing produces 1) more use of potentially lethal force by firearms against Black civilians than against White civilians and 2) lower fatality rates for Black civilians than White civilians. We empirically evaluate this second prediction with original officer-involved shooting data from 2010 to 2017 for eight local police jurisdictions, finding that Black fatality rates are significantly lower than White fatality rates and that this significance would survive an omitted covariate three times as strong as any of our observed covariates. Furthermore, using outcome test methodology and a comparability assumption, we estimate that at least 30% of Black civilians shot by the police would not have been shot had they been White. An omitted covariate would need to be at least three times as strong as any of our observed covariates to eliminate this finding. Finally, any omitted covariate would have to affect Black fatality rates substantially more than Hispanic fatality rates in order to be consistent with the data.