The FBI reported this week that 51 law enforcement officers were killed "as a result of felonious acts" across the country in 2014, nearly double the number of killings in 2013.
"Of the 51 officers feloniously killed, 11 were killed while answering disturbance calls, nine were conducting traffic pursuits/stops, seven were ambushed, seven were investigating suspicious persons or circumstances, five were conducting investigative activities (such as surveillances, searches, or interviews), four were killed in arrest situations, four were involved in tactical situations, and three were handling persons with mental illnesses,"
the FBI reported in the 2014 edition of "Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted."
"One officer was killed in an unprovoked attack," it added.
The statistics, released Monday, show additionally that 45 officers died in accidents, and that over 48,000 officers were the victims of assaults last year.
Twenty seven officers were killed in the line of duty in 2013. Since 2010, roughly 56 officers have been killed each year, on average.
As NBC News reported, officer killings became a subject of national debate in 2014 after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York.
FBI data shows that in 2014, law enforcement officers carried out 444 justifiable homicides, while private citizens carried out 277.
The total number of people killed by law enforcement officers are not published by the FBI.
According to AFP, "The Guardian's interactive 'The Counted' project found that 922 people have been killed by police in the US," while "The Washington Post found that 788 people have been shot dead by police so far this year."
The FBI will release officer death statistics for 2015 next year.
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