A RECORD OF LAW ENFORCEMENT’S SACRIFICE
DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
By Craig W. Floyd, Chairman
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund
January 6, 2000
Between 1900 and the end of 1998, a total of 14,010 federal, state and local law enforcement officers in the United States were killed in the line of duty. Based on preliminary records for 1999, it appears that at least another 130 officers made the ultimate sacrifice during the past 12 months. These figures are in stark contrast to the 824 law enforcement officers who are known to have died in the line of duty during the 1800’s.
The first officer to be killed during the twentieth century was William C. Rooney, a 30-year-old captain with the Colorado Department of Corrections. On January 22, 1900, Captain Rooney was stabbed in the heart during a prison escape and he died. Captain Rooney was also the first of more than 370 correctional officers to be killed in the line of duty during the past century.
Thirty-nine other officers died in the line of duty later in 1900. When compared to the years that followed, though, 1900 was a relatively tame period for the officers who served. During the next 99 years only 1905, with 30 police deaths, proved to be safer. A dangerous turning point for law enforcement came in 1916. That was the first year ever that the number of law officers killed in our country exceeded 100.
As first observed by New York Times reporter Fox Butterfield (January 1, 1997, article), there was a fairly close connection during the past century between the number of police officers killed in the line of duty and the nation’s overall homicide rate. There was a dramatic rise in law enforcement fatalities from World War I until 1930, with the number of deaths increasing from 74 in 1914 to a high of 243 in 1930. The nation’s murder rate showed a similar climb during that same period, peaking in 1933 at about 10 homicides per 100,000 people in 1933.
The number of police fatalities and the national homicide rate then declined during the 1930’s, the 40’s and the 50’s before both posting sharp increases in the 60’s and 70’s. In fact, the deadliest decade on record for law enforcement occurred in the 1970’s when a total of 2,215 officers were killed in the line of duty, including an all-time high of 271 in 1974. The average number of law enforcement officers killed each year went from 49 between 1900 and 1909; 95 during the 1910’s; 181 during the 1920’s; 176 during the 1930’s; 100 during the 1940’s; 104 during the 1950’s; 146 during the 1960’s; to 222 during the 1970’s. See appendix A for a complete year-by-year breakdown of law enforcement fatalities.
According to Mr. Butterfield’s article, “Precisely why violent crime jumped abruptly in the 1960’s is poorly understood, though experts have cited the breakdown of traditional authority that accompanied the Vietnam War, the decline of the family and the loss of jobs in the nation’s inner cities.”
Largely due to the increased use of soft body armor, better training and improved equipment, police deaths have been on the decline for the past two decades. During the 1980’s we averaged 187 officer fatalities each year, and in the 1990’s we averaged 153. At the same time that deaths were declining, the number of law enforcement officers in our nation grew substantially from roughly 315,000 officers in 1970 to an estimated 740,000 serving today.
During the past century more officers, by far, were killed by firearms than by any other single cause. Nearly 7,000 officers were shot to death, accounting for about 49 percent of all law enforcement fatalities over the past 100 years. The deadliest shootout during that period occurred on January 2, 1932, in Springfield (MO). A suspected cop killer was rumored to be hiding at a house just outside of town. Greene County (MO) Sheriff Marcell C. Hendrix took nine officers with him to make the arrest. The officers were met with a hail of gunfire and six officers, including Sheriff Hendrix, were killed.
During the early part of the past century, the second leading cause of police deaths were motorcycle accidents. In fact, from 1910 through 1939, there was a total of 485 officers killed in motorcycle accidents, compared to 323 officers who died in automobile accidents. As law enforcement began to increasingly rely more and more on the automobile, motorcycle deaths declined during the latter half of the century, but still accounted for more than 1,000 officer fatalities during the century (7% of all deaths). Motorcycle accidents ended the century as the third-leading cause of police deaths.
Automobile accidents were the second-leading cause of police fatalities by the end of the century, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths (15% of all deaths). Nearly 1,000 more officers (7% of all deaths) were struck and killed by passing motorists while outside of their own vehicles, making this category the fourth-leading cause of law enforcement deaths during the past 100 years. About 315 of these vehicle-related deaths were caused by drunk drivers.
A summary of the top ten leading causes of law enforcement fatalities during the past century follows (does not include 1999 figures):
1. Firearms (6,846 or 49%)
2. Automobile Accidents (2,090 or 15%)
3. Motorcycle Accidents (1,022 or 7%)
4. Struck by Vehicle (955 or 7%)
5. Job-related Illness (588 or 4%)
6. Aircraft Accidents (311 or 2%)
7. Stabbings (197 or 1%)
8. Fall (147 or 1%)
9. Drowning (142 or 1%)
10. Beaten (134 or 1%)
Roughly 61% of the officers killed this past century were feloniously assaulted by criminals, and 39% died in accidental circumstances (e.g., automobile accidents, aircraft accidents, shooting accidents, etc.). However, during each of the past five years (including 1999) that trend has reversed itself with more accidental deaths than felonious, as shown in appendix B. Roughly 5% of the officers who died over the past 100 years were killed taking law enforcement action while in an off duty capacity.
Approximately 500 law enforcement officers were killed in multiple death incidents during the past century. The first such incident occurred on March 28, 1900, when Birmingham (AL) Officers George W. Kirkley and J. Wafe Adams were both gunned down by robbery suspects. The deadliest single incident in law enforcement history happened on November 24, 1917, when a suspicious package left outside of a local church was brought to a Milwaukee (WI) police station for inspection. Before anyone had a chance to investigate, the package exploded and nine officers were killed. The officers who died were Frank Caswin, Paul Weiler, Henry Deckert, Frederick Kaiser, Charles Seehawer, Stephen Stecher, Albert Templin, Edward Spindler and David O’Brien. Two other incidents, a 1929 riot at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Canyon City (CO), and the 1995 terrorist bombing at the Oklahoma City Federal Building each resulted in the deaths of eight officers.
The average age of the officers killed during the past century was 38 and the average length of service was about eight years. Pulaski County (MO) Night Marshal Dotson “Pop” Sutton, 80, was the oldest officer to die in the line of duty. He was struck by a vehicle while on patrol in 1952. The youngest officers, seven of them, were all 19 years old when they died. In 1919, Thomas Knevet, a Hartford (CT) police officer, was also struck by a vehicle and killed. He had worked in law enforcement for 44 years, making him the longest serving officer ever to die in the line of duty.
Throughout United States history, there have been a total of 154 female law enforcement officers (includes 1999) who have been killed in the line of duty. All of them died during the past century, only nine of them prior to 1970. The first was Anna Hart, a jail matron for the Hamilton County (OH) Sheriff’s Department. On July 24, 1916, Jail Matron Hart was struck in the head with an iron bedpost by a prisoner who was attempting to escape. In 1999, preliminary information indicates 13 female officers made the ultimate sacrifice, the most ever in a single year.
There are a total of 84 law enforcement agencies that recorded 10 or more line of duty fatalities during the past century. Appendix C, a complete listing of those agencies, is attached. The agencies with the most deaths were:
1. New York City (NY) Police Department—522
2. Chicago (IL) Police Department—420
3. Puerto Rico Police Department—278
4. Philadelphia (PA) Police Department—229
5. Detroit (MI) Police Department—207
6. California Highway Patrol—191
7. Los Angeles (CA) Police Department—190
8. U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms—182
9. St. Louis (MO) Police Department—136
10. Kansas City (MO) Police Department—112
California had more law officers killed during the past century than any other state, with 1,209 deaths. Vermont had the fewest officers killed, with 14 deaths. Appendix D is a complete listing of officers killed by state. The top 10 states with the most deaths are:
1. California—1,216
2. New York—1,025
3. Texas—803
4. Illinois—797
5. Pennsylvania—593
6. Ohio—587
7. Florida—528
8. Missouri—485
9. Michigan—452
10. Georgia—393
Of the officers who made the ultimate sacrifice over the past 100 years, 60% served with municipal departments, 18% were county officers, 15% served with state agencies, 5% were federal officers and 2% served with agencies from the U.S. territories.
Appendix A
Officers Killed by Year (1900 – 1999)
Year Number of Officers
1900 40
1901 48
1902 53
1903 53
1904 44
1905 30
1906 47
1907 58
1908 76
1909 43
1910 54
1911 85
1912 72
1913 76
1914 75
1915 85
1916 118
1917 121
1918 114
1919 153
1920 149
1921 181
1922 181
1923 155
1924 194
1925 180
1926 180
1927 188
1928 191
1929 214
1930 244
1931 203
1932 210
1933 186
1934 190
1935 165
1936 149
Appendix A (continued)
Year Number of Officers
1937 155
1938 155
1939 98
1940 107
1941 121
1942 98
1943 75
1944 79
1945 93
1946 118
1947 107
1948 117
1949 85
1950 101
1951 112
1952 110
1953 102
1954 116
1955 107
1956 94
1957 106
1958 98
1959 96
1960 119
1961 124
1962 127
1963 130
1964 140
1965 125
1966 150
1967 180
1968 185
1969 182
1970 210
1971 239
1972 222
1973 258
1974 271
1975 229
1976 192
1977 182
Appendix A (continued)
Year Number of Officers
1978 202
1979 210
1980 201
1981 201
1982 195
1983 189
1984 178
1985 173
1986 177
1987 175
1988 194
1989 191
1990 152
1991 147
1992 158
1993 153
1994 170
1995 172
1996 133
1997 163
1998 156
1999* 130
*Based on preliminary information and may be subject to change.
Appendix BLaw Enforcement Officers Killed in the Line of Duty During the Past 10 Years
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Year |
Felonious Deaths |
Accidental Deaths |
Total Deaths |
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1990 |
89 |
62 |
151 |
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1991 |
89 |
59 |
148 |
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1992 |
91 |
66 |
157 |
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1993 |
82 |
71 |
153 |
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1994 |
86 |
84 |
170 |
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1995 |
83 |
89 |
172 |
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1996 |
66 |
67 |
133 |
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1997 |
78 |
85 |
163 |
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1998 |
66 |
90 |
156 |
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*1999 |
47 |
83 |
130 |
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Total |
777 |
756 |
1,533 |
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(78 per year) |
(76 per year) |
(153 per year) |
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* Based on preliminary information and may be subject to change.
Appendix C
Officers Killed by Department (1900 – 1999*)
Department Number of Officers
New York City, New York, P.D. 522
Chicago, Illinois, P.D. 420
Puerto Rico, P.D. 278
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, P.D. 229
Detroit, Michigan, P.D. 207
Highway Patrol, California 191
Los Angeles, California, P.D. 190
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, U.S. 182
St. Louis, Missouri, P.D. 136
Kansas City, Missouri, P.D. 112
Metropolitan, Washington D.C., P.D. 104
State Police, New York, 102
Cleveland, Ohio, P.D. 93
Houston, Texas, P.D. 90
Baltimore City, Maryland, P.D. 89
San Francisco, California, P.D. 88
Immigration & Naturalization , U.S., Border Patrol 87
New Orleans, Louisiana, P.D. 86
Dept. of Public Safety, Texas 78
Los Angeles County, California, S.D. 73
Customs Service, U.S. 69
Marshals Service, U.S., Department of Justice 69
Dallas, Texas, P.D. 66
Boston, Massachusetts, P.D. 65
Cincinnati, Ohio, P.D. 63
Louisville, Kentucky, P.D. 63
Atlanta, Georgia, P.D. 61
State Police, Pennsylvania 60
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, P.D. 58
State Police, New Jersey 58
State Police, Illinois 56
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, P.D. 55
Highway Patrol, North Carolina