106 policemen killed on duty, says FBI

WASHINGTON, United States –  Not less than 106 policemen were killed in their line of duty in the United States in 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) has said. According to the statistics, 55 officers died as a result of felonious acts,  while 51 others died in accidents.

The 55 felonious deaths occurred in 28 states and in Puerto Rico, the FBI noted, adding that the number of officers killed as a result of criminal acts in 2018 was 9 more than the 46 officers who were feloniously killed in 2017.

A further breakdown of the figure shows that 52 were male, 3 were female. Besides, 46 of the officers affected were white while 7 were black/African American, 2 were Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.

The FBI also chronicled the circumstances they were killed. According to the, report,  “23 died as a result of investigative or enforcement activities, 8 were performing investigative activities, 6 were involved in tactical situations, 3 were interacting with wanted persons, 3 were investigating suspicious persons or circumstances ,2 were conducting traffic violation stops, 1 was handling a person with mental illness, 11 were ambushed (entrapment/premeditation), 6 were involved in pursuits, 4 were involved in foot pursuits, 2 were involved in vehicular pursuits, 4 were responding to crimes in progress, 2 were burglaries in progress, 1 was a report of a person with a firearm, 1 was reported in the category of other crime against property, 3 were involved in arrest situations and were attempting to control/handcuff/restrain the offender(s) during the arrest situations, 2 were on administrative assignments and were performing prisoner transports, 2 were assisting other law enforcement officers with foot pursuits, 2 were responding to disorders or disturbances, 1 was responding to a disturbance call, 1 was responding to a domestic violence call, 1 was performing traffic control, 1 was involved in an unprovoked attack”, the FBI said.

Besides, the report indicated that offenders used firearms to kill 51 of the 55 victim officers, while 4 officers were killed with vehicles used as weapons. “Of the 51 officers killed by firearms: 37 were slain with handguns, 10 with rifles, 2 with shotguns, 2 with firearms in which the types of firearms were not reported”, see the full report here