Press Release

FACT SHEET FOR
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS KILLED AND ASSAULTED, 2002

Information from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program released today in its annual publication Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002, revealed that:

• Throughout the Nation, 56 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty in 2002. The number of officers killed was 14 fewer than the 70 officers slain in 2001.
• Fifty-one officers were killed in firearms-related incidents in 2002.
• Thirty-eight officers were feloniously killed with handguns, 10 officers were killed with rifles, and 3 were killed with shotguns.
• Four officers were feloniously killed when struck by vehicles, and 1 officer was killed with a knife or cutting instrument.
• Sixty-one assailants were known in the 53 separate incidents that involved the felonious death of law enforcement officers in 2002.
• Forty-five suspected offenders were arrested. Eight of the known assailants were justifiably killed by person(s) other than the victim officers, 4 assailants committed suicide, and 3 assailants were justifiably killed by the victim officers during the incidents. One suspected offender remains at large.
• Seventy-seven law enforcement officers were accidentally killed in 2002.
• In 2002, a total of 58,066 law enforcement officers were assaulted, and 16,494 officers suffered injuries as a result of these attacks.

 

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