According to the National Fraternal Order of Police, COVID-19 has killed 77 police officers in the line of duty. 28 of those have occurred in New York.
National Trainer, Travis Yates, tells us that with the nature of law enforcement and the inability of those in the profession to do what many Americans are able to do in the middle of this crisis to prevent exposure, line of duty deaths due to COVID-19 will likely increase.
As of today, COVID-19 is the leading cause of line of duty death in 2020 and is only rivaled by 9/11 as the deadliest single event in law enforcement history.
58 police officers died on 9/11 with another 252 in the years that have followed due to exposure.
“It is a tragic situation where for the first time in our history, the enemy we face is invisible and it one that quite frankly many in law enforcement feel extremely vulnerable to,” Yates told us.
On April 9, 2020, The Department of Justice announced that any law enforcement officer that dies from COVID-19 will be covered as the victim of a line of duty death. In a statement issued, “in the absence of evidence showing a different cause of death, BJA generally will find that the evidence shows a public safety officer who died while suffering from COVID-19 died as the direct and proximate result of COVID-19.”
The Fraternal Order of Police is the largest law enforcement labor organization in the United States, with
more than 350,000 members. With inconclusive guidance on this pressing matter, the FOP took the issue of COVID-19 and line of duty death benefits directly to the White House.
According to FOP President Patrick Yoes, “We are extremely grateful, as always, to President Trump for his
decisive leadership, especially in this time of crisis and for the exceptional team he has put together at the
Justice Department.”
