In 2020, 93 U.S. law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, 46 of them a result of intentional crime (felony) – overall a slight increase on the previous year.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released its annual report, which includes a tally of law enforcement deaths in 2020.
The data shows that last year, 93 officers died in the line of duty – more than half of them in the southern states. Forty-six officers lost their lives as a result of felonious acts, while 47 died from accidents. Of those killed by criminal acts, 41 where shot to death and four were deliberately killed by vehicles used as weapons.
Overall, four more officers died than the previous year, however the trend over the last 20 years shows a significant reduction in line of duty deaths. In 2001, 148 officers died – a figure which does not take into account the 72 officers who died as a result of the 9/11 terror attacks. The fewest number of recorded deaths occurred in 2013, when 76 officers fell in the line of duty.
