Record-High 378 Police Officers Shot on the Job in 2023: Report

Police officers respond to a school threat while families gather behind police tape in Santa Ana, Calif., on March 10, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

There have been 378 police officers shot in the line of duty in 2023, marking the highest number ever recorded, according to a report from the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) published on Jan. 2.

The FOP is the largest law enforcement organization in the United States, with more than 373,000 members.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and after so many Americans have seen the tragic consequences of the defund the police movement, it was our hope that these numbers would be a high-water mark.

“We were wrong,” FOP President Patrick Yoes said in a press release.

The recent figure represents a 14 percent increase from the 331 officers shot in 2022. There were 115 ambush-style attacks on law enforcement in 2023, resulting in 138 officers being shot, 20 of whom were killed.

The number of ambush-style attacks does not include “the countless incidents” where an officer was shot at but not directly hit by gunfire, according to the report.

Despite the rise in the number of officers shot, Mr. Yoes said that “dramatic advancements” in medical trauma science and anti-ballistic technology contributed to reducing the number of cops killed on the job.

The FOP stated that around 46 officers were killed by gunfire in 2023, down from the 62 killed in the previous year.

“Thankfully, because of dramatic improvements in medical trauma science and anti-ballistic technology, the lethality of these attacks has been reduced, and only 46 of the officers shot in the line of duty were killed,” Mr. Yoes said.

Mr. Yoes described the scale of violence against police officers as “horrifying” and “simply unsustainable,” citing it as a reason why the profession is experiencing a recruitment and retention crisis.

According to the report, many of these police officers were shot while they were eating, sitting at their posts, and “in five cases, targeted and murdered while at their home or on their way home.”

“Many will often look at this data and just see numbers, but we MUST remember that they represent heroes—fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters.

“What father or mother would want their child to become an officer knowing the dangers they face every day?” Mr. Yoes remarked.

‘Support Our Heroes’

Mr. Yoes has urged Congress to pass the Protect and Serve Act, which establishes a criminal offense for assaulting police officers and causing serious bodily injury in circumstances that affect interstate commerce.

“They have not done so. Today, given these numbers, what more would it take for lawmakers in Washington to see how necessary it is to pass this legislation?” the FOP president stated.

“Truthfully, the violence against those sworn to protect and serve is beyond unacceptable; it’s a stain on our society, and it must end.

“It is incumbent upon our elected officials and community leaders to stand up, support our heroes, and speak out against the violence against law enforcement officers,” he added.

The federal legislation includes a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment for those who attack and injure a police officer and a penalty of life in prison for those who kill or kidnap a law enforcement officer.

National Police Association spokesperson Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith said last year that the law would provide “much-needed moral and legal support” to law enforcement officers.

“For the last three years, the nonstop unwarranted vilification of law enforcement has emboldened criminals to escalate violence against police,” Sgt. Smith said in a statement on May 11, 2023.