A new report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund found that 64 officers were shot and killed in the line of duty in 2022.
According to the nonprofit’s report, the number of deaths is on a “disturbing trend” as it represents the increase in the average number of officer deaths in recent history.
The report broke down several key findings, including the recent rise in firearm-related deaths of police officers throughout the last 12 years. According to the data, an average of 53 officers were fatally shot each year from 2010 through 2020. Meaning the 64 fatal shootings of officers last year is an increase of 21%.
The Executive Director of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, Bill Alexander, shared with The Associated Press that concerns have risen in relation to the numbers.
“We really do have some concerns about these numbers specific to firearms fatalities,” Alexander said.
The report found there were several different scenarios in which officers were shot and killed last year.
Of those killed, the report found that 11 officers were ambushed, 10 were attempting to make an arrest, nine were handling domestic disputes, eight were investigating “suspicious circumstances,” six were making traffic stops, five were handling disturbance calls, four were shot “mistakenly” by fellow officers, three were shot responding to robbery calls and serving civil papers, two were shot “handling an inmate” and the two remaining deaths were “not clearly defined.”
The states listed in the report for having the most officer-related shootings included California, which saw five, and Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas, all of which saw four.
Even though the number of gunfire deaths is on the rise, the report found that the overall number of officer deaths fell by 61% year-over-year. In total, 226 federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement officers died in the line of duty last year, according to the report.
The top causes of death were gunfire, at number two, and COVID-19, at number one, which claimed the lives of 70 officers. The third most cause of death was traffic-related incidents, which claimed the lives of 56 officers.
The CEO of the organization, Marcia Ferranto, spoke with USA Today about the report, saying she hopes the data prompts officer safety and wellness programs to investigate why officers are dying by firearms more today than a decade ago.
She added that the nonprofit is going to compile more information on the deaths in order to help find possible solutions and causes of the deaths.
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