FBI report reveals 51 law enforcement officers shot and killed in the line of duty in 2018
A total of 106 law enforcement officers died in line-of-duty incidents last year, according to the latest statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Information (FBI). The nation's top investigative agency states that at least 55 officers died because of felonious acts, and 51 of these officers were shot and killed by firearms as they conducted their duty.
Out of the 106, 51 officers died in accidents, a significant amount of which (34 officers) died of motor crashes, according to the data.
The 55 felonious deaths of officers occurred in 28 states in the country and in Puerto Rico, marking an increase in the number of officers killed because of criminal acts in 2018 when compared to 2017. A total number of 46 officers were feloniously killed in 2017.
According to the five and ten-year comparison data, there was an increase of four felonious deaths when compared to the figures in 2014, which saw 51 officers die because of criminal acts, and an increase of seven deaths when compared with the figures of 2009, which exhibited a total of 48 deaths.
The average age of officers killed in criminal acts was 37 years old, and these officers had served in law enforcement for an average of ten years at the time of their deaths. The data states that among the officers killed in felonious deaths, 52 personnel were male, 3 were female. A total of 46 officers killed in criminal acts were white while 7 were black/African America, and 2 were Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.
At least 23 of the 55 officers died as a result of investigative or enforcement activities, 11 were ambushed (entrapment/premeditation), 4 were responding to crimes in progress and 3 were involved in arrest situations and were attempting to control/handcuff/restrain the offender(s) during the arrest situations. At least one of the officers shot and killed was performing traffic control and one died in an unprovoked incident.
Out of the 55 people killed in criminal acts, 51 were killed with firearms, and four were killed with vehicles used as weapons. At least 37 law enforcement officers were slain with handguns, 10 with rifles, 2 with shotguns and the rest 2 with firearms in which the types of firearms were not reported.
Law enforcement agencies identified 55 alleged assailants in connection with the officers killed in line-of-duty, out of which 49 suspects had previous criminal arrests and 20 of the offenders were under judicial supervision at the times of the felonious incidents.
Most of these felonious deaths of agents were reported in the Southern region of the United States, with the South witnessing 26 officers' deaths in 2018. At least 12 were killed in the Midwest, 12 in the West, 4 in the Northeast and 1 in Puerto Rico.