Department of Justice Releases Report on Officers Killed in the Line of Duty

A pile of newspapers bundled together with string.

The Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) recently announced that its report, Deadly Calls and Fatal Encounters, which was produced by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) and funded by the COPS Office, provides analysis of 684 cases involving line of duty deaths over a five year period (2010-2014).

The purpose of this report is to identify the situations which present officers the most risk and make recommendations to enhance officer safety. For example, this report found that calls related to domestic disputes and domestic-related incidents resulted in the highest number of officer fatalities. The study also concluded that there are high risks associated with traffic stops.

The report provides three steps which law enforcement agencies can immediately implement: encourage officers to slow down when responding to calls (specifically, officer needs assistance calls), wear seat belts and wear issued body armor.

Deadly Calls and Fatal Encounters is available at http://www.nleomf.org/programs/cops/cops-report.html.