Methodology: Law Enforcement Officers Killed

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When an officer is killed in the line of duty, the FBI gathers data about circumstances pertaining to the death. The data come from various sources:

City, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies participating in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program may report line-of-duty deaths that occur in their jurisdictions.
FBI field divisions and legal attaché offices report line-of-duty deaths of United States law enforcement officers that occur in the United States, its outlying areas, and foreign countries.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program, and several nonprofit organizations devoted to supporting the families of fallen officers provide information about line-of-duty deaths.

When the FBI receives notification of a line-of-duty death, the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) staff works with FBI field divisions to contact the fallen officer’s employing agency, requesting additional details about the fatal incident and supplying information about federal programs that provide benefits to survivors of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. The LEOKA staff also obtains criminal history data from the FBI’s Interstate Identification Index about people who are identified in connection with line-of-duty felonious deaths.