On average, a law enforcement officer in the United States has died as a direct result of gunfire every six days for the last thirty years. In all, 1,825 law enforcement officers have been killed by gunfire since 1985.
The Officer Down Memorial Page is pleased to report, however, that January 2015 marks the first month since September 2011 in which there were no felonious gunfire deaths of law enforcement officers in the United States.
This is only the third month since 1985 in which no law enforcement gunfire deaths occurred.
There was, however, an accidental gunfire death this month, when Mississippi Gaming Commission Director of Investigations John Gorman was accidentally shot and killed during a training exercise. Visit his memorial page and pay your respects here.
Although deaths in January of 2015 did increase over January of 2014, that was a result of higher instances of motor vehicle and heart attack deaths.
The Officer Down Memorial Page tracks law enforcement death statistics by type in the hopes that analysis of that information will enable a better understanding of how to keep officers safe and prevent more Line of Duty Deaths.
