Monday, May 14, 2012

Preliminary Statistics for Law Enforcement Officers Killed in 2011



Seventy-two law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty last year, according to preliminary statistics released today. The figure is 16 more officers than were killed the previous year. Release of the report coincides with National Police Week May 13-19, when law enforcement officers from around the world gather in Washington, D.C. to honor colleagues who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Of the 72 officers killed, 14 were victims of unprovoked attacks, 11 were killed during traffic pursuits or stops, six were killed during tactical situations, five were killed during entrapments/premeditated ambushes, and five were slain while investigating suspicious persons or circumstances.

“Each of these losses is devastating,” FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said in a video message to law enforcement colleagues. “And each one reminds us that the safety and the freedom we enjoy come only at great cost.”

The FBI will release final statistics on officers killed and assaulted in the line of duty in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s publication, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2011, which will be published on the FBI’s website in the fall.

The UCR Program, part of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, has been collecting and publishing law enforcement statistics since 1937, most notably the annual Crime in the United States reports. In 1972, the FBI began producing detailed reports on officer fatalities after the larger law enforcement community sought the Bureau’s involvement in preventing and investigating officer deaths.

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