Excerpted from National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund

Law Enforcement line-of-duty deaths nationwide dropped by 39 percent in 2023 when compared to the number of deaths in the prior year. There were 136 federal, state, county, municipal, military, tribal, and campus officers deaths in 2023 compared to 224 duty deaths in 2022, according to the National Law Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) 2023 End-of-Year Preliminary Law Enforcement Officers Fatalities Report.

“There is no such thing as ‘good news’ when reporting even a single officer being killed in the line-of-duty,” said National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund CEO Bill Alexander. “Yet we are encouraged to see fewer overall officer deaths across all major categories in 2023. Using and reporting on this data allows us to highlight the continuing dangers faced by our law enforcement professionals, particularly the number of officers who are shot and killed each year.”

Firearms and traffic-related duty deaths showed significant declines, but were the two leading causes of death in 2023 respectively. However, the total number of deaths in the ‘Other Causes’ category, which involves varied circumstances, continued to represent the largest group of officers who died in the line of duty in 2023.

Firearms-related fatalities decreased by 25 percent, claiming the lives of 47 officers in 2023 compared to the 63 officers killed by gunfire in 2022. Of the officers killed by firearms: nine were attempting arrests; seven were handling domestic disturbance calls; and six were investigating suspicious persons or situations. Five officers each died in ambushes, responding to robberies or burglaries in-progress, and during traffic enforcement. Two officers were killed in each of the following circumstances: while serving warrants, investigating disturbance calls, during tactical encounters and other circumstances. One law enforcement officer died in a training accident and another while intervening during a crime in progress.

Traffic-related fatalities dropped 27 percent to 37 deaths in 2023, compared to 51 in 2022. The 27 fatal crashes in 2023 represent a decrease of 25 percent compared to the 36 fatal crashes in 2022. Of those 2023 crashes, 23 were automobile crashes and four were motorcycle crashes. Officers who were struck while outside their patrol vehicles fell by 33 percent from 15 in 2022 to 10 in 2023. 

There were 52 law enforcement officers who perished from ‘Other Causes’ in 2023. This category includes COVID-19 related deaths; long-term illnesses related to the September 11th terrorist attacks; acute medical conditions brought on by extreme and/or stressful events experienced while on duty; and other rare, but fatal incidents. COVID-19 related deaths continued to dramatically decline in 2023 with only five deaths reported.

Most of the ‘Other Causes’ in 2023 were medically-related with 35 fatal medical events and five COVID-19 related deaths. Other deaths also included three officers who fell to their deaths and two officers involved in aircraft crashes. The remaining seven deaths were due to the following circumstances: a falling object; assisting in a fire incident; drowning; being beaten to death; stabbed to death; struck by a train; and one officer was strangled to death.

The states with the highest number of officer fatalities in 2023 are: New York with 13 line-of-duty deaths; Texas with 11; Louisiana had eight officer deaths; and California with seven deaths. Indiana and Tennessee both had 6 officer deaths each. Additionally, there were seven federal officers who died in the line of duty, three officers serving U.S. Territories; one military officer, and one tribal officer. There were no line-of-duty deaths in 10 states in 2023. Michigan had one line-of-duty death.

This is the second year officer deaths have declined substantially since 2021 – the deadliest year on record for law enforcement with 586 duty deaths.

Please click on the link below for the full report. The statistics released in the annual report are based on preliminary data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and may not represent a final or complete list of individual officers who will be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in 2024.