Preliminary statistics released by the FBI show
that 66 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty in
2016. This is an increase of 61 percent when compared with the 41 officers
killed in 2015. By region, 30 officers died as a result of criminal acts that
occurred in the South, 17 officers in the West, 13 officers in the Midwest,
four in the Northeast, and two in Puerto Rico.
At the time the 66 law enforcement officers were
fatally wounded:
§ 17 were ambushed (entrapment/premeditation);
§ 13 were answering disturbance calls (seven were
domestic disturbance calls);
§ nine were investigating suspicious
persons/circumstances;
§ six were engaged in tactical situations;
§ five were performing investigative activities;
§ four were conducting traffic pursuits/stops;
§ three were investigating drug-related matters;
§ three were victims of unprovoked attacks;
§ one was answering a robbery in progress call or
pursuing a robbery suspect(s);
§ one was answering a burglary in progress call or
pursuing a burglary suspect(s);
§ four were attempting other arrests.
Offenders used firearms in 62 of the 66 felonious
deaths. These included 37 incidents with handguns, 24 incidents with rifles,
and one incident with a shotgun. Four victim officers were killed with
vehicles used as weapons.
Of the 66 officers killed, 50 were confirmed to be
wearing body armor at the times of the incidents. Fourteen of the 66 slain
officers fired their service weapons, and 10 officers attempted to fire their
weapons. Three victim officers had their weapons stolen; one officer was
killed with his own weapon.
The 66 victim officers died from injuries sustained
in 56 separate incidents. Fifty-four of those incidents have been cleared by
arrest or exceptional means.
In 2016, an additional 52 officers were killed in
line-of-duty accidents, which are officer deaths that were found not to be
willful and intentional. This is an increase of 16 percent when compared with
the 45 officers who were accidentally killed in 2015. By region, 24 officers
died from accidents in the South, 12 in the Midwest, nine in the
West, five in the Northeast, and two in Puerto Rico.
Twenty-six of the officers died as a result of
automobile accidents, 12 were struck by vehicles, and seven were fatally
injured in motorcycle accidents. Three officers died in accidental shootings,
two victim officers drowned, one died in an aircraft accident, and
one victim officer was fatally injured when thrown from a horse.
Of the 26 officers who
died due to automobile accidents, eight were wearing seatbelts. Eleven officers
were not wearing seatbelts (five of whom were partially or totally ejected from
the vehicles), and seatbelt use was not reported for seven of the officers who
were killed in automobile accidents.
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