Officers Feloniously Killed

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The following information concerns duly sworn city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement officers who died in 2014 as a result of felonious incidents in the line of duty. The law enforcement officers included in this report also met additional criteria (e.g., they had full arrest powers; they ordinarily wore/carried a badge and a firearm).

Overview

• In 2014, 51 law enforcement officers died from injuries incurred in the line of duty during felonious incidents.

• Of the officers feloniously killed, 27 were employed by city police departments, including 8 who were members of law enforcement agencies in cities with 250,000 or more inhabitants.

• Line-of-duty deaths occurred in 24 states and in Puerto Rico.

• By region, 17 officers were feloniously killed in the South, 14 officers in the West, 8 officers in the Midwest, 8 officers in the Northeast, and 4 officers in Puerto Rico.

More information about these topics is provided in Tables 1, 2, 17, 18, 23, 24, 30, 31, and 32.

Victim profile

• The average age of the officers who died in 2014 was 39 years old.

• The slain officers’ average length of law enforcement service was 13 years.

• Of the officers who died due to felonious incidents in 2014, 51 were male, and none were female.

• By race, 47 of the victim officers were white, 2 were black, and 2 were Asian/Pacific Islander.
  

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.

Circumstances

• 11 officers who died had responded to disturbance calls.

• 9 officers were fatally injured during traffic pursuits or stops.

• 7 officers were involved in ambush (entrapment/premeditation) situations.

• 7 officers died as a result of investigating suspicious persons or circumstances.

• 5 officers were conducting investigative activity (surveillance, search, interview, etc.).

• 4 officers died as a result of arrest situations.

• 4 officers were killed as a result of tactical situations (barricaded offender, hostage taking, high-risk entry, etc.).

• 3 officers were handling persons with mental illnesses.

• 1 officer was killed in an unprovoked attack.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, and 36.

Assignments

• 31 officers were on assigned vehicle patrol when the felonious incidents occurred.

• 5 of the slain officers were off duty (but acting in an official capacity) at the times of the incidents.

• 15 officers were assigned to other duties, such as detectives, officers on special assignments, undercover officers, or officers on other types of assignments not listed.

• 30 on-duty officers who died in 2014 were assisted at the times of the attacks.

• 16 on-duty officers were alone and unassisted at the times of the attacks.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, and 28.

Weapons

• Of the officers killed in 2014, most (46) were killed with firearms. Of these, 33 were killed with handguns. (A breakdown of the types of weapons used in these slayings is provided in Table 29.)

• 6 officers had their weapons stolen.

• 5 officers fired their weapons; 7 officers attempted to use their weapons.

• 13 officers were slain with firearms when they were 0-5 feet from the offenders.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 14, 15, 16, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, and 44.

Body armor

• In 2014, 39 of the officers feloniously killed were wearing body armor at the time of the incidents.

• Of these officers, 35 were killed with firearms, having incurred the following wounds:
• 11 suffered wounds to the front of the head.
• 9 were wounded in the side of the head.
• 5 were shot in the front upper torso/chest.
• 4 were shot in the rear upper torso/back.
• 3 were shot in the neck/throat.
• 2 were shot in the rear of the head.

• The location of the fatal wound was not reported for 1 incident.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 40, 41, 42, 43, and 44.

Months, days, and times of incidents

• More officers (9) died from felonious assaults that occurred in May than in any other month in 2014.

• More officers (11) were involved in fatal assaults that occurred on Saturdays than on any other day of the week.

• 20 officers were fatally injured in assaults that happened between 12:01 a.m. and noon.

• 31 officers were fatally injured in assaults that happened between 12:01 p.m. and midnight.

More information about these topics is provided in Tables 3, 4, 5, 6, 19, and 20.

Profile of alleged known assailants

In 2014, 59 alleged offenders were identified in connection with the 51 law enforcement
officers feloniously killed. Of those offenders, the following characteristics are known:

• The average age of the alleged offenders was 31 years old.

• The average height was 5 feet 10 inches tall, and the average weight was 180 pounds.

• 54 of the alleged offenders were male, and 5 were female.

• 42 of the alleged offenders were white, 13 were black, 2 were American Indian/Alaska Native, 1 was Asian/Pacific Islander, and race was not reported for 1 offender.

• 50 of the alleged offenders had prior criminal arrests.

• 11 of the alleged offenders were under judicial supervision at the time of the incidents.

• 11 of the alleged offenders were under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the fatal incidents.

• 2 of the alleged offenders were under the influence of alcohol or were intoxicated at the time of the fatal incidents.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, and 50.