(Washington, DC) — Preliminary numbers show a 39 percent decrease in law enforcement line-of-duty deaths nationwide in 2023.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is reporting 136 federal, state, county, military, tribal and campus officers died on the job last year – compared to 224 in 2022.
Pope County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Owen was the lone Minnesota officer killed in the line of duty.
Owen was shot by a domestic violence suspect last April on his 44th birthday.
Gunfire was the leading cause of death for law enforcement officers in the U-S, but that number dropped from 63 two years ago to 47 in 2023.