According to preliminary data compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF), 67 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty during the first half of 2014. This is a 31% increase over the same period in 2013 (51 officers killed).

For the second year in a row, traffic-related incidents were the leading cause of officer fatalities in the first half of 2014. Twenty-six officers were killed as a result of traffic-related incidents halfway through 2014, increasing 37% from the same period in 2013.

Firearms-related incidents were the second leading cause of death among our nation’s law enforcement officers in the first half of 2014, increasing 56% with 25 fatalities compared to 16 in the same period last year. Investigating suspicious persons or situations was the leading circumstance of fatal shootings, with six officer fatalities.

In the first half of 2014, 16 officers died as a result of other causes unrelated to firearms or traffic, matching the same number of officers killed during the same period in 2013. Job-related illnesses, such as heart attacks, drastically rose in the first half of 2014, with 13 officer deaths compared to eight officers last year.

Sixty-four officers were male and three were female. Their average age was 42 years, with 13 years of service. On average, they had two children.

Read the full report at www.LawMemorial.org/ResearchBulletin.