FBI LEOKA · 2024
Police Officers Assaulted
85,730 law-enforcement officers were assaulted in the line of duty in 2024 — 13.5 for every 100 sworn officers — and 34.5% of them were injured. The figures come from 11,784agencies that voluntarily reported to the FBI's Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted program, together employing 634,770 officers.
Ten years of reported assaults
Victim officers assaulted, as reported to LEOKA, 2015–2024.
Read this trend with care: LEOKA is voluntary, and the jump from 83,016 in 2023 to 85,730 in 2024 — like the climb since 2021 — reflects expanded NIBRS-era participation (more agencies reporting) as much as any change in how often officers are assaulted.
Weapons used against officers
Share of 2024 assaults by weapon type.
Most assaults are unarmed — personal weapons (hands, fists, feet) account for 77.3% — and they injure more often: 37.2% of officers assaulted with personal weapons were injured, versus 13.2% of those assaulted with firearms. Proximity, not caliber, drives most injuries.
What officers were doing when assaulted
Circumstance at the scene of the incident, 2024.
| Circumstance | Assaults | Share | % cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disturbance call | 22,916 | 26.7% | 88.2% |
| Attempting other arrest | 16,362 | 19.1% | 89.5% |
| All other | 12,692 | 14.8% | 82.5% |
| Handling, transporting, custody of prisoner | 12,252 | 14.3% | 84.5% |
| Investigating suspicious person/circumstance | 7,764 | 9.1% | 88.0% |
| Traffic pursuit/stop | 6,880 | 8.0% | 86.0% |
| Handling person with mental illness | 3,799 | 4.4% | 69.7% |
| Burglary in progress/pursuing burglary suspect | 948 | 1.1% | 87.8% |
| Civil disorder (mass disobedience, riot, etc.) | 870 | 1.0% | 76.9% |
| Ambush situation | 653 | 0.8% | 69.8% |
| Robbery in progress/pursuing robbery suspect | 594 | 0.7% | 88.9% |
Clearance percentages are the FBI's published figures, preserved verbatim — in small-count categories a share can exceed 100% because clearances may be recorded in a different period than the assault.
Assaults by assignment
How the assaulted officer was deployed, 2024. Officers in one-officer vehicles account for about 60.4% of assaults.
| Assignment | Assaults | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1-Officer vehicle, assisted | 26,561 | 31.0% |
| 1-Officer vehicle, alone | 25,229 | 29.4% |
| 2-Officer vehicle | 13,393 | 15.6% |
| Other, assisted | 12,722 | 14.8% |
| Other, alone | 4,983 | 5.8% |
| Detective/special, assisted | 2,084 | 2.4% |
| Detective/special, alone | 758 | 0.9% |
When assaults happen
Assaults by two-hour slot, 2024. The evening and overnight hours dominate — the six hours from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. account for about a third of all assaults, while 4–6 a.m. is the quietest slot.
A further 2,857 assaults (3.3%) had no reported time.
Where officers are assaulted
Counts alone mislead — always pair them with rates. The South has the most assaults (31,590), but the West's rate (20.4 per 100 officers) is the highest of any region.
| Region | Assaults | Rate per 100 officers | Injured |
|---|---|---|---|
| South | 31,590 | 12.7 | 10,453 |
| West | 28,874 | 20.4 | 9,300 |
| Midwest | 14,203 | 11.9 | 5,236 |
| Northeast | 11,063 | 8.8 | 4,549 |
| Division | Assaults | Rate per 100 officers | Injured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific | 17,510 | 18.3 | 5,592 |
| South Atlantic | 16,255 | 13.9 | 4,442 |
| Mountain | 11,364 | 24.6 | 3,708 |
| West South Central | 10,945 | 12.0 | 4,473 |
| East North Central | 8,797 | 10.2 | 3,173 |
| Middle Atlantic | 7,294 | 8.0 | 3,470 |
| West North Central | 5,406 | 16.5 | 2,063 |
| East South Central | 4,390 | 10.8 | 1,538 |
| New England | 3,769 | 11.0 | 1,079 |
By community size
Big cities log the most assaults — 20,191 in cities of 250,000+ — but mid-size cities have the highest rates: 22.1 per 100 officers in cities of 100,000–249,999 and 21.7 in cities of 50,000–99,999, versus 13.8 in the largest cities.
| Population group | Assaults | Rate per 100 officers | Injured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group I (cities 250,000 and over) | 20,191 | 13.8 | 7,969 |
| Metropolitan counties | 17,745 | 11.0 | 5,723 |
| Group II (cities 100,000-249,999) | 10,415 | 22.1 | 3,461 |
| Group III (cities 50,000-99,999) | 9,807 | 21.7 | 3,110 |
| Group VI (cities under 10,000) | 8,124 | 10.4 | 2,707 |
| Group IV (cities 25,000-49,999) | 8,059 | 17.8 | 2,489 |
| Group V (cities 10,000-24,999) | 6,893 | 15.0 | 2,402 |
| Nonmetropolitan counties | 4,496 | 6.8 | 1,677 |
About this data
- Counts are victim officers, not incidents. One incident in which three officers are assaulted counts three times. Only assaults on sworn officers acting in the line of duty are included.
- Voluntary, aggregate collection. Figures cover the 11,784 agencies that chose to report to LEOKA in 2024 — employing 634,770 officers and covering 289,954,669 residents. Counts track participation as well as incidence: the 83,016 → 85,730 rise from 2023 reflects expanded NIBRS-era reporting as much as any change in how often officers are assaulted.
- Published FBI tables, verbatim. Nothing is estimated for non-reporting agencies, and shares and clearance percentages are the FBI's own — including small-count artifacts, preserved as published.
- No state-level map — on purpose. State participation is far too uneven to map honestly: one state reported a single assault for all of 2024. Regions, divisions and population groups are the finest cut we can show without misleading.
Source: FBI Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) program, 2024. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI. How our data works.
Officer assaults — FAQ
How many police officers were assaulted in the U.S. in 2024?+
85,730 law-enforcement officers were assaulted in the line of duty in 2024, per the 11,784 agencies that reported to the FBI's LEOKA collection — a rate of 13.5 per 100 sworn officers. 34.5% of assaulted officers (29,538) were injured.
Are assaults on police officers increasing?+
Reported assaults rose from 69,580 in 2022 to 83,016 in 2023 and 85,730 in 2024. But LEOKA is a voluntary collection — the recent jump reflects expanded NIBRS-era participation (more agencies reporting) as much as any change in incidence, so the trend is not a clean measure of risk.
What weapons are used in assaults on officers?+
Personal weapons — hands, fists and feet — account for 77.3% of assaults. Firearms account for just 4.0%, but the injury pattern inverts: personal-weapon assaults injured 37.2% of the officers involved versus 13.2% for firearm assaults.
Where does this data come from?+
The FBI's Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) program, 2024 — published tables reproduced verbatim, with no estimation for non-reporting agencies. Counts are victim officers, not incidents. pumsdata is independent and not affiliated with the FBI.