There was a significant drop in law enforcement officers dying in the line of duty in 2022. Covid was the leading cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022 for 3rd year in a row.
Last year saw the deaths of officers in the line of duty plummet. A big part of the decrease is attributed to the dramatic drop in fatalities from Covid. Despite steep reductions, Covid remains the number one cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022.
In 2022, 226 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty, according to preliminary data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).
Of those deaths, 70 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty as a result of contracting Covid. It marks a massive 83 percent drop since the year prior. In 2021, 405 officers were killed by Covid.
Of the 226 deaths in 2022, 64 officers were shot and killed in the line of duty. There was the same amount of deaths from firearms in 2021. It is not clear how many of these deaths were by suicide. There is mounting pressure for a database to track deaths y suicide in the armed forces, due to mounting evidence of work-related PTSD.
However, while the number stayed flat from 2021 to 2022, the report highlights that figures this decade are higher than the previous decade.
If you look at 2010 compared to 2020, there is a 21 percent increase in firearms-related fatalities within law enforcement. This will be a focus for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which develops officer safety and wellness programs designed to educate the over 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide on best practices.
The report found that Texas had the highest number of law enforcement Covid deaths with 16, followed by Illinois with six, New York with five, Alabama with four, and Oklahoma and Tennessee with four each.
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