FBI Releases Police Line-of-Duty Death Statistics for 2017

May 10, 2018

A total of 93 officers were killed in the line of duty last year, according to a portion of the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017 (LEOKA) report released Thursday.

By Officer.com News

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A total of 93 officers were killed in the line of duty last year, according to a portion of the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017 (LEOKA) report released Thursday.

Of these deaths, 46 were felonious and 47 were accidental.

Both numbers have decreased from 2016, during which 66 officers were feloniously killed and 52 were accidentally killed, for a total of 118 line-of-duty deaths.

The FBI collects data on officer assaults and deaths from local, state, tribal, campus, and federal law enforcement agencies from around the country, as well as organizations that track officer deaths. The Bureau publishes the data annually through its Uniform Crime Reporting Program, and the national-level statistics can be used to help create data-driven safety training for officers.

Among the officers who were feloniously killed:

The average age was 38 years old, with an average tenure of 11 years in law enforcement.
Forty-three of the officers were men, and three were women.
Most of the officers (42) were killed by firearms, three were killed by vehicles (used as weapons), and one officer was killed with a knife.

Among the officers who were accidentally killed:

The average age was 40 years old, with an average tenure of 12 years in law enforcement.
Forty-five were men, and two were women.
The most common accidental deaths were automobile accidents (29), being struck by vehicles (six), or motorcycle/ATV accidents (five).

To provide more timely data to the public, the FBI released portions of its annual LEOKA publication today, instead of in the fall as we have in past years. The remaining portions of the publication, featuring data on officer assaults in the line of duty for 2017, will be released later this year.

As a result of a recent technical refresh, the database containing LEOKA information can process more data than ever before, which means the FBI can now share additional details about incidents in which law enforcement officers are killed and assaulted in the line of duty. A description of all the changes to this report can be found at Updates to Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2017.