The number of law enforcement officers in the United States who died while on duty decreased by nearly 25 percent in 2025, according to an annual report.
A total of 111 on-duty law enforcement officers died last year, down from 148 total deaths in 2024, according to a report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund shared with the Associated Press.
The safety of law enforcement officers is a key focus of communities nationwide.
Firearm-related officer deaths dropped 15 percent, to 44 in 2025 from 52 in 2024. The number is the lowest recorded in at least a decade, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's previous annual officer fatality reports.
"I always like to see that firearms deaths are down. They are the tip of the spear for egregious acts," Bill Alexander, the chief executive officer of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, told AP.
Alexander said that fewer firearm-related fatalities do not mean that there were fewer instances of officers being shot or being shot at. A National Fraternal Order of Police report showed there was a small increase in officers shot while on duty last year, increasing from 342 in 2024 to 347 in 2025.
"Some of it could come down to an officer being shot close to a hospital or maybe the officers had a tactical emergency kit or better blood stopping equipment," Alexander said.
Traffic-related fatalities saw a nearly 23 percent reduction between 2024 and 2025, including both fatal vehicle crashes and officers struck by vehicles, typically during traffic stops.
Alexander said increased adoption of "move-over" laws, which require motorists to change lanes away from traffic stops or accidents, as well as shifts in officer protocols at traffic stops, such as approaching from the passenger side, may have contributed to fewer traffic-related tragedies.
Fatalities from other causes, such as physical or medical issues from on-duty incidents, stabbings, drownings or plane crashes, fell by 37 percent, from 52 in 2024 to 33 in 2025. The number includes 14 officers who died from illnesses connected to September 11 response efforts.
Previous reports included officer deaths from COVID-19, which increased fatality numbers in 2020 and 2021, but Alexander told AP that those have not been included as on-duty fatalities in the last two years. The report also does not include officers who died by suicide, but Alexander said the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is considering how to honor those officers best.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's report also showed no on-duty officer fatalities in 17 states and Washington, D.C., and none at the nation's federal and tribal law enforcement agencies last year.
Bill Alexander, the chief executive officer of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, told the Associated Press: "Even one officer fatality is too many, and our ultimate goal is to have none. But we're heartened by any decrease in those numbers."