Cops Suffer Deadliest Year On Record With 458 Deaths, Most From COVID-19

Law enforcement officers endured a difficult year in 2021 and it was also the deadliest one on record, according to a report from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund.

Released on Tuesday, the report found that 458 law enforcement officers died last year, 55% more than in 2020. What it also found was that the bulk of these deaths was a result of the pandemic with COVID-19 claiming the lives of 301 officers and agents across the country last year. The second highest cause of death was by gunfire, which claimed 62 lives.

Deaths of law enforcement officers were trending downwards since the 1970s, but the average number of fatalities has steadily climbed in the last decades. William Bratton, the former police commissioner for New York City, Boston, and Los Angeles, said that the report demonstrated what he said was the continued bravery of officers in a difficult line of work.

“Cops are still doing what they’ve always done regardless of politics, [the] pandemic and anti-police sentiment - running towards danger at any cost,” Bratton said on Twitter.

The surge in COVID-19 fatalities has eclipsed those in 2020 when police officers were more exposed to the virus. In some jurisdictions, officers were responsible for enforcing public health restrictions before vaccines became widely available to the public. However, police officer unions have been among the most resistant to vaccination mandates being implemented in U.S cities, with some attempting to challenge these in court.

No vaccination status was specified for the officers who died as a result of COVID-19 in the report. Deaths went up 65% from the virus since 2020.

Firearms-related fatalities were the second highest cause of death recorded. This was 38% higher than in 2020. In a breakdown of the deaths, 19 were killed in ambushes, eight during investigations, and the remainder during routine duties, like responding to domestic disturbances, tactical encounters, and during arrest attempts.

A further 58 officers died during traffic incidents, a 38% rise compared to the previous year. Of the traffic-related fatalities, 19 were automobile crashes involving a collision with another vehicle or fixed object, nine were single-vehicle crashes, and 27 were struck-by fatalities.

When broken down by geography, the state with the most officers' deaths last year was Texas with 84 police officers dead. This was followed by Florida, Georgia, California, and North Carolina. The majority of these deaths were police veterans with an average of 17 years on the force. City police departments lost the most officers.