In 2025, the number of officers feloniously killed each year has dropped to the lowest level since 2013. The Officers Down Memorial Page (ODMP) appears to have more complete data than the FBI Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) data. The LEOKA data depends on voluntary reporting from law enforcement agencies. The ODMP evaluates officer deaths which are submitted to it. The largest discrepancy noticed was in 2013, where ODMP listed 37 officers feloniously killed in that year and LEOKA lists 27. In 2025, the two numbers are the same.
The Crime Prevention Research Center has compare the first three months of 2026 with the first three months of 2024 and 2025, using the LEOKA data. You can see 2026 is lower than the previous years for the first quarter.
The number of officers feloniously killed has been dropping since the 1970s. There are reasons for this drop. It has not been smooth. The numbers are relatively small, so there are significant changes from year to year. The chart below shows the numbers of officers killed feloniously with firearms from 1963 to 2014
The number of officers feloniously killed with firearms is a pretty good fit to the number of officers feloniously killed, because most homicides of officers in the line of duty are committed with firearms. There are several reasons which may explain the drop. First is the introduction of soft body armor, especially the Second Chance vest in the early 1970s. There was better training on firearms retention, and the use of retention holsters. We also developed much better communications and emergency response systems, as well as better emergency room care. Together these things resulted in a two thirds drop in the numbers of officers killed in felonious attacks. The officers killed numbers tend to follow the overall homicide numbers which also dropped significantly since the 1990s. The numbers in the first Trump term are lower than the numbers during the Biden administration.
Analysis: As we continuously improve the technology used by the police, the officers killed feloniously will continue to drop. Robots are already being used to search houses. Cameras everywhere make criminals easier to find, and crimes easier to solve.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment