Line of Duty Deaths 2019
By Terry Baxter, Law Enforcement and Safety Specialist
Everyone pretty much understands the hazardous of law enforcement work and in 2019 a total of 132 officers were killed in the line duty. A nationwide goal was to be Below 100 deaths, a benchmark that will have to continue on into 2020 and has not been met since 1943.
2019 law enforcement fatalities decreased by 18% over the previous year deaths. The realization of no deaths would be a fabulous endeavor, but unfortunately, not a reality, law enforcement officers will die each year.
Officers in 2019 lost their lives in the line of duty in many different ways. The top three leading cause of death were:
- Gunfire (49-deaths)
- Vehicle Accidents (23-deaths)
- Heart Attack (16-deaths)
December proved to be the deadliest for law enforcement, where (18) officers lost their lives. Nebraska wasn’t immune from this statistic, in 2019, Trooper Jerry Louis Smith, Jr. was killed on Thursday, June 20, 2019 after his patrol vehicle was struck head-on by another vehicle in Morrill County.
Texas lost the most officers, (19), followed by New York, (14) and California with (10) even as Nebraska and Iowa in 2019 discovered one officers life is one too many.
Handguns were the leading type of firearms used against law enforcement in 2019. Of the (49 )fatalities, (27) were shot and killed with a handgun, while others were shot with rifle and shotguns.
So how do we accomplish getting deaths below 100? In my opinion we need to focus on “complacency”. Personnel who repeatedly are exposed to dangerous or violent situations become less concerned and cautious. Why, because nothing bad every happened and we get the feeling of being invincible. Complacency is habit forming, over time the absence of consequences causes a person to become lax and attention to detail is flawed.
Of the reported deaths in 2019, the average age of the officer killed was (43) years and the average length of service was (14) years. These are not “rookies”, they were seasoned veterans that gave the ultimate sacrifice.
The main-focus of Below 100 is to influence culture by providing innovative trainings and awareness through presentations involving current trends in preventable line of duty deaths and injuries and the main goal is reduce line of duty deaths to fewer than 100 per year.
