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Fatal work injuries to police officers fell 20 percent in 2019

May 13, 2021

Police and sheriff’s patrol officers incurred 86 fatal work injuries in 2019. That was a 20.4-percent decrease from the 108 reported in 2018. Fatal work injuries among police officers occurred at a rate of 11.1 per 100,000 full-time workers in 2019. The rate for all occupations was 3.5 per 100,000 full-time workers.

Fatal work injuries to police and sheriff's patrol officers, government and private sector, 2009–19
Year Fatal work injuries

2009

96

2010

134

2011

130

2012

105

2013

79

2014

97

2015

85

2016

108

2017

95

2018

108

2019

86

Seventy fatal work injuries (81.4 percent of the total) occurred to officers ages 25 to 54. Nine fatal work injuries (or 10.5 percent) involved female officers.

Thirty-seven homicide cases made up 43.0 percent of police officer fatalities in 2019. Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles represented another 29.1 percent (25 fatal cases). Another 18.6 percent (16 fatalities) were pedestrian vehicular incidents.

Fatal work injuries to police and sheriff's patrol officers by event or exposure, government and private sector, 2019
Event or exposure Fatal work injuries

Homicides (Intentional injury by other person)

37

Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle

25

Pedestrian vehicular incident

16

Suicides (self-inflicted injury, intentional)

4

All other fatalities

4

These data are from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. For more information, see our occupational snapshot of police and sheriff's patrol officers. We also have more charts on fatal work injuries.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Fatal work injuries to police officers fell 20 percent in 2019 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/fatal-work-injuries-to-police-officers-fell-20-percent-in-2019.htm (visited April 25, 2024).

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