Fewer police officers died in the line of duty last year and fewer than 50 were fatally shot on the job, according to a preliminary report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, USA Today reports. Though firearms overtook COVID-19 as the leading cause of death for police officers in 2023, the number of officers killed by gunfire declined and remained far below the number of firearms-related officer deaths 50 years ago. The decline in officer deaths is a "welcome trend," said fund CEO Bill Alexander. Still, Alexander said he's still concerned about an uptick in nonfatal shootings. "I really do suspect that 2023 might be an anomaly in terms of the total number of men and women who die by gunfire, particularly given the number of men and women who were shot and thankfully survived," he said. "But it is a scary number, and I do worry that 2024 will result in a much higher number than what we had in 2023."
According to the report, 136 federal, state, county, municipal, military, tribal and campus officers died in the line of duty in 2023, a 39% decrease from the year before. The report found 47 officers were killed by gunfire, 37 died in traffic-related incidents and 52 died due to "other causes" including medical events, aircraft crashes, and other forms of violence. Overall, Alexander said the decrease in officer fatalities is driven by a decline in deaths from COVID-19, which killed 70 offiers in 2022 but only 5 in 2023. Firearm-related deaths also decreased 25% in 2023. Alexander said advances in medical treatment and training may be driving the decrease in firearms deaths, which he called an "outlier."