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Washington, DC - According to statistics reported to the FBI, 93 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2020. Of these, 46 officers died as a result of felonious acts, and 47 officers died in accidents. Comprehensive data tables about these incidents and brief narratives describing the fatal attacks were released today in the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) portion of the Crime Data Explorer website. Previous editions of the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted publication, which contain data from 1996 to 2019, are available on the fbi.gov UCR Publications page.

Felonious Deaths

The 46 felonious deaths occurred in 25 states. The number of officers killed as a result of criminal acts in 2020 was two less than the 48 officers who were feloniously killed in 2019.

The 5- and 10-year comparisons show a decrease of 20 felonious deaths compared with the 2016 figure (66 officers) and a decrease of 26 deaths compared with 2011 data (72 officers).

Officer Profiles. The average age of the officers who were feloniously killed was 39 years old. The victim officers had served in law enforcement for an average of 12 years at the times of the fatal incidents. Of the 46 officers:

The race of 1 officer who died was not reported.

Circumstances Encountered by Victim Officer Upon Arrival at Scene of Incident. Of the 46 officers feloniously killed:

Weapons. Offenders used firearms to kill 41 of the 46 victim officers. Four officers were killed with vehicles used as weapons. One officer was killed by the offender’s use of personal weapons (hand, fists, feet, etc.). Of the 41 officers killed by firearms:

Regions. Felonious deaths were reported in all four U.S. regions.

Suspects. Law enforcement agencies identified 44 alleged assailants in connection with the felonious line-of-duty deaths.

Accidental Deaths

Forty-seven law enforcement officers were killed accidentally while performing their duties in 2020, an increase of six when compared with the 41 officers accidentally killed in 2019. The majority (26 officers) were killed in motor vehicle crashes.

Officer Profile. The average age of officers who were accidentally killed was 40 years old; the average number of years the victim officers had served in law enforcement was 10. Of the 47 officers accidentally killed:

Circumstances. The 47 officers accidentally killed died in a variety of scenarios:

Use of seatbelts. Of the 24 officers killed in motor vehicle crashes while operating cars, SUVs, trucks, or vans, eight were wearing seatbelts and five were not. Data about seatbelt usage was not reported for 11 of the officers.

Regions. Accidental deaths were reported in four U.S. regions.

Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2020

Release schedule. To provide a more timely release of data to the public, today’s release provides three categories of data. These categories include data and statistics concerning officers feloniously and accidentally killed and statistics about federal officers killed and/or assaulted. The remaining portions of the information, which present data reported to the FBI concerning law enforcement officers assaulted in the line of duty in 2020, will be available later this year:

LEOKA 2020 data is available exclusively on the FBI’s Law Enforcement Data Explorer (a subset of the Crime Data Explorer).