Mortality Among Law enforcement Officers in the United States: A Population-Wide Analysis of the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance Data, 2023

Law enforcement officers across the United States are exposed to “occupational hazards that can influence both the timing and causes of death.” This study provides one of the most comprehensive, population-based studies of mortality rates of law enforcement officers.

When compared with the general public, previous studies have determined law enforcement officers are more likely to experience deaths from cardiovascular, cancer, and suicides.

National data for the 5-year period of 2019 – 2023 was used to compare the numbers of death between law enforcement officers and the general public by year, age, and causes of death. During this period,15,384 individuals working in law enforcement died. Males made up 85.3% of the deaths compared with 14.7% females. When comparing the number of law enforcement officers’ deaths  with the general population it was determined White officers made up 69.2% vs. 62.8% in the population. Hispanic was 10% as opposed to 14.6% in the population.

Fewer white female officers (56%) were lower than white females in the general public (63.9%). Whereas black female officers (31.4%) were higher than the general public (21.4%). Around 42 years of age, the number of officers’ deaths began to exceed the deaths in the general public. 

The percentage of officers who died with COVID-19 exceeded the numbers from the general public with the peak occurring in 2021 with 4,576 deaths. This caused a greater overall percentage of deaths compared with other causes.

When the COVID-19 deaths were removed from the database, there were  13,127 deaths with an average of 3,281.8 per  year. There were 2,257 deaths of female officers with an average of 564 per year.

Over the four-year period, circulation conditions were the leading cause of deaths for male officers n=3,212 (24.5%). External causes of death was the second greatest cause of death for male officers.  The leading external cause of death was ‘intentional harm/suicide, (41.4%) n=1,070 with an average of 267.5 deaths per year. Suicides of males in the general public made up 18.8% total of external causes.

The third and fourth leading causes of deaths for both groups of males was cancer and COVID-19.

The leading causes of death for female officers were cancer, circulatory conditions, and external causes and each of these exceeded the levels experienced by the females in the general public.

The findings of this study highlight the need for targeted intervention and prevention efforts to reduce cardiovascular, cancer-related, and suicide mortality among police officers.

This study highlights how law enforcement officers experience higher mortality rates when compared with the general public in ‘timing, causes, and demographic distribution of death’.  When COVID-19 pandemic deaths were removed from the data, the leading causes of deaths were ‘circulatory diseases, cancers, and external causes (notably suicide). It is critical for agencies to initiate targeted intervention and prevention efforts to effectively address these risks.

Editorial Comment: Law enforcement officers tend to focus on line-of-duty deaths. While tragic, this study demonstrates the larger threat to law enforcement officers are from preventable causes. During the five-year period of this study, 13,127 officers died, with an average of 3,281.8 per  year die from preventable causes. Compare this with the average of 152 line-of-duty deaths in 2023 – 2025. In comparison, law enforcement officers are 21.6 times more likely to die from preventable illnesses and injuries. To effectively mitigate these deaths agency leaders should consider placing greater focus on prevention.