The 2024 mid-year law enforcement fatalities report released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) on July 10 shows that 71 federal, state, county, municipal, tribal and U.S. territories officers have died in the line of duty in the first half of 2024, representing a 15% increase compared to the same time period last year.

“Our organization exists to honor the fallen, so every death is a gut punch, not just to us as a memorial fund, but to everyone who is a part of the law enforcement profession,” NLEOMF CEO Bill Alexander says. “To see the numbers rising is troubling. It causes me to reflect on how NLEOMF can improve on one of our other missions: making it safer for the men and women in uniform by creating programs and best practices based on data reports like this one.”

Alexander pointed to two findings from the report that he found most concerning, one of which was a startling 136% increase in traffic-related fatalities from the first half of 2023 to 2024.

“A big chunk of the traffic-related fatalities are related to officers being struck by a vehicle while out of their police car,” he says. “The officers could have been helping pedestrians, directing traffic or conducting a traffic stop when they were tragically hit and killed.”

Additionally, while the 28 firearms-related fatalities so far in 2024 is not a dramatic increase from last year’s 26, Alexander believes the true extent of the threat is masked by the high number of officers who were shot and could have been killed, but luckily survived. According to the Fraternal Order of Police, 193 officers have been shot in the line of duty as of June 30. 

“When you think about that number, which doesn’t even include the number of times someone shot at an officer but missed, it’s easy to see why this is so concerning,” Alexander says. “While 28 officers being struck and killed is staggering and tragic, I think it’s masking the fact that literally hundreds of police officers this year have been shot at by someone who had the intention of killing them. Twenty-eight is not really doing justice in highlighting to the public the kind of danger law enforcement is in every day they’re on duty.”

The report also includes an “other” category, which contains a wide variety of health-related deaths and other line-of-duty fatalities. Seventeen officer deaths are listed in this category, including two officers who were beaten to death and two who were stabbed. 

“Those four deaths, in combination with the 28 who were shot and killed, stand out to me in a way that could not easily be highlighted if you weren’t looking at the intricate numbers of the report,” Alexander says. “To be beaten and stabbed to death is just horrible. It’s a different flavor of violence that is worth talking about.”

To view the complete mid-year preliminary law enforcement officers fatalities report, visit tinyurl.com/592c8t5v.