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Police Murders Fell in 2025, Down Again in Early 2026
AmmoLand ^ | April 20, 2026 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 04/24/2026 4:53:30 AM PDT by marktwain

In 2025, the number of officers feloniously killed fell to its lowest level since 2020. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center’s review of FBI LEOKA data, 53 officers were feloniously killed in 2025, down 17.2% from 2024. Early 2026 data also point lower, with 10 officers feloniously killed in the first three months of the year, compared with 15 in the same period of 2025 and 14 in the same period of 2024. The FBI’s LEOKA system relies on voluntary reporting from participating law enforcement agencies.

The Officers Down Memorial Page (ODMP) appears to have more complete data than the FBI Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) data. The LEOKA data depends on voluntary reporting from law enforcement agencies.

The ODMP evaluates officer deaths that are submitted to it. The largest discrepancy noticed was in 2013, where ODMP listed 37 officers feloniously killed in that year, and LEOKA lists 27.  In 2025, the two numbers are the same.

The Crime Prevention Research Center has compared the first three months of 2026 with the first three months of 2024 and 2025, using the LEOKA data.  You can see that 2026 is lower than the previous years for the first quarter.

The number of officers feloniously killed has been dropping since the 1970s. There are reasons for this drop. It has not been smooth. The numbers are relatively small, so there are significant changes from year to year. The chart below shows the number of officers killed feloniously with firearms from 1961 to 2013, using LEOKA data.


(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 2026; banglist; murders; police
The number of police feloniously killed in the line of duty has been falling since the early 1970s. There was a bump up during the Biden administration.
1 posted on 04/24/2026 4:53:30 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

In Jr high one of our neighbors was a cop. He was killed by a bank robber. It was traumatic thing for all the kids that really liked him.


2 posted on 04/24/2026 4:55:22 AM PDT by central_va (XI won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: marktwain

3 posted on 04/24/2026 4:56:39 AM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: marktwain

The standard deviation in the difference in police officers killed in the same periods would be five. (Assuming a Possion distribution, with the mean of the sum being 25 = 15 + 10). Our estimate of the standard deviation should be higher. The difference in the two years is less than one standard deviation therefore. It is not “statistically significant”. One death is a tragedy. Ten or fifteen are statistics.

I am happy that fewer police officers were killed, and agree that it is a good sign, but am reluctant to draw sweeping conclusions. If the New York Times or SPLC can gin up another “George Floyd” or Ferguson, the numbers will shoot up again. It has nothing to do with police behavior but only how successful race hustlers and leftists are in generating antipolice sentiment.


4 posted on 04/24/2026 6:25:11 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets ( Thorough planning and careful preparation is no substitute for wishful thinking. )
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To: marktwain

I wonder why the PO killings were so high in the early 70’s.

Anti-war protest violence? Black Panther violence?


5 posted on 04/24/2026 6:43:01 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: fwdude

I wonder why the PO killings were so high in the early 70’s.


No body armor. Poor weapons retention. Poor training.

Soft body armor became popular in the 1970s. Retention holsters and weapon retention training ramped up starting in the 1970s. Better emergency response and better emergency room surgery ramped up. Better communications helped with the above.


6 posted on 04/24/2026 6:56:03 AM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: marktwain

I wonder why the numbers for February recently trend higher than January and March.


7 posted on 04/24/2026 7:06:14 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: marktwain

Makes sense.

Of course, the left depicts the better protective equipment as “militarization of police.” They would rather police officers be left vulnerable.


8 posted on 04/24/2026 7:19:05 AM PDT by fwdude (Why is there a "far/radical right," but damned if they'll admit that there is a far/radical left)
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To: MtnClimber

I wonder why the numbers for February recently trend higher than January and March.


With such small samples, it could be random variation.


9 posted on 04/24/2026 9:52:33 AM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: MtnClimber

Looking at 10 other years 2006-2015, February was lower than one of the other months in 9 cases, and lower than or equal to one of both other months in 7 cases.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/leoka/2015/tables/table_9_leos_fk_month_of_incident_2006-2015.xls


10 posted on 04/24/2026 10:01:21 AM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: marktwain
With such small samples, it could be random variation.

I thought about that too. But maybe, being a shorter month, the criminals must work much harder to pay the bills at the end of the month.

11 posted on 04/24/2026 10:02:11 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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