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Home • LEOKA • 2018 • Resource Pages • Methodology: Officers Killed

Methodology: 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:

  • FBI field offices report line-of-duty deaths of city, college and university, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement officers that occur in the United States and its outlying areas.
  • City, college and university, 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.

When the FBI receives notification of a line-of-duty death, the staff of the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program works with FBI field offices to contact the fallen officer’s employing agency and requests additional details about the fatal incident. The LEOKA staff also obtains criminal history data from the FBI’s Interstate Identification Index about individuals who are identified in connection with line-of-duty felonious deaths.