FBI: Police Officer Assaults Hit 10‑Year High Even as Line-of-Duty Killings Decline

Assaults against law enforcement officers climbed to their highest rate in a decade in 2025, even as the number of officers killed in the line of duty declined for a second consecutive year, the FBI reported Monday.

A total of 53 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed nationwide in 2025, fewer than in each of the previous two years, according to the FBI’s Officers Killed and Assaulted in the Line of Duty, 2025 report, released through its Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Despite the drop in fatalities, the assault rate rose from 2023 to 2025, reaching levels not seen in more than 10 years, the FBI said.

Firearms remained the most common weapon used in fatal attacks on police officers. Of the 49 offenders identified in felonious officer killings, 95.7% were male, 64.4% were white, and 29 were known to have a prior criminal record, the report found.

Regionally, the South continued to account for the most line‑of‑duty deaths over the past decade, though fatalities in that region dropped sharply in 2025. The FBI reported 21 deaths in the South, down 25% from 28 deaths in 2024.

Agencies reported 90,178 assaults on officers in 2025, equating to a rate of 13.8 assaults per 100 officers—the highest officer assault rate recorded over the past 10 years, according to FBI data.

At the same time, the number of officers assaulted and injured by firearms continued to decline after peaking in 2023. The FBI reported 517 firearm‑related officer injuries in 2023, followed by 470 in 2024 and 445 in 2025, signaling a downward trend despite the overall rise in assaults.

Accidental deaths remained a persistent risk, with motor vehicle crashes accounting for most accidental line‑of‑duty fatalities between 2021 and 2025, the FBI found.

Alongside the assault and fatality data, the FBI also released its 2025 Law Enforcement Employee Counts, which track the number of full‑time sworn officers and civilian employees nationwide. The data are used by agencies at all levels of government to assess staffing needs, plan recruitment efforts and allocate resources, according to the FBI.

Go to the FBI's website to read the full report.