Death rate among on-duty police officers fallen since 1960s, new data shows, with car crashes top cause

In the days after an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was shot and killed on Dec. 27, 2022 in rural southern Ontario, police associations said the number of officers dying on the job was "unprecedented."

Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala, who had just started his policing career in Haldimand County, was one of five officers who died on the job in Canada last year.

Another five officers have died on duty already this year, including Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Eric Mueller on May 11, prompting more police associations and services to speak out.

New data from University of Ottawa researchers, shared exclusively with CBC News before its publication, shows the 10 deaths in eight months hasn't been seen since the early 1960s — but with more than twice as many officers working now compared to then, the overall death rate of on-duty officers is lower compared to past decades.

The data also shows that over the decades, car crashes have been the leading cause of death among officers on the job.

"It doesn't mean we shouldn't take it seriously … Nonetheless it doesn't mean [police] get to make any claims that they want," said Justin Piché, a University of Ottawa associate professor and supervisor of the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project. Piché casts doubt on claims that policing is more dangerous now than in past years.

The research was led by Lyne "Léo" Ral and Elisabeth Touwaide, both of whom are completing double master's degrees in criminology University of Ottawa and the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium respectively.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) doesn't dispute the numbers but says they don't tell the whole story.

'Very emotional for our members': CACP

The data tracks on-duty officer deaths from 1962 to this year using numerous sources including police websites, memorial groups and past research.

It shows 408 police officers have died on the job across Canada in those 61 years. The deadliest years were 1962 and 1968 with 16 officers dying at work each of those years.

On average since 1962, there are between six and seven deaths per year. 

Most officers who died on the job were between 25 and 34-years-old, the statistics show.

The data also highlights deaths from "intentional harmful acts" like shootings.

The average number of deaths in that category is between two and three annually, which would make 2022 and 2023 above-average years for those cases. 

Though the data still shows the number of deaths from "intentional harmful acts" is down from past decades.

There were 12 deaths from intentional harmful acts in 1962. There were eight such deaths in 1984.

Piché said the deaths between September 2022 and May 2023 — nine of which are considered by researchers to be intentional harmful acts — hasn't been seen since 1962 when there were nine deaths in a six-month span. 

However, Piché notes there are over 68,000 police officers in Canada now compared to roughly 26,000 officers in 1962.

"The mortality rate was significantly higher back then … which is not something captured in the rhetoric around policing and police officer deaths circulating at the moment," he said.

CACP president Danny Smyth said the numbers don't account for the "unstable" environment police officers have to navigate now — one that isn't the same as past decades.

He said the pandemic, national addictions and mental health crises and access to more guns has made policing harder.

Smyth added his association is taking a deeper look at other factors, like how police in rural settings have fewer resources than those in big cities.

"It sounds like the researchers are trying to mitigate what's happened to police in eight months," he said.

"It's been very emotional for our members."

Car crashes top cause of death since 1962

The data also details how officers died.

The most common cause of on-duty deaths are car crashes, killing 184 officers.

Of those, 12 involved an impaired driver and 16 were an intentional hit, the researchers found.

That hasn't been the case recently, however. Of the 10 deaths over the past eight months, only one was related to a car crash.

Shootings were the second-most common killer, ending 151 lives.

Of those, six involved an officer accidentally shooting their colleague.

Jennifer Schulenberg, a social studies and legal associate professor at the University of Waterloo, said the research doesn't consider how firearm-related violent crime has generally been on the rise and how that impacts officers who respond to calls for service.

Statistics Canada says the rate of firearm-related violent crime in 2021 was 25 per cent higher than it was 10 years earlier, in 2012.

Of the 10 recent deaths, seven were related to shootings. 

"A car in the ditch, domestic disputes … you don't expect that level of violence at these types of calls," Schulenberg said.

Smyth agreed with her comment, adding that driving and pursuing suspects is a big part of police training.

Natalie Delia Deckard, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Windsor, said she disagreed with the idea that officer deaths in the past nine months are unprecedented.

"It is relatively safer to be a police officer than it was historically," she said. "It is safe in comparison to other hazardous positions and things can only get better as community relationships improve."

The death of Const. Pierzchala in December 2022 led police associations to call for bail reforms and a proposal from the federal government to change the system. One of the two people charged with his killing had been previously released on bail.

Smyth said tightening up the bail system will be a good move to keep both police officers and communities safe.

Piché called for different solutions. "Are we housed? Do we have adequate income? Do we have adequate access to healthcare and mental health-care when we need it? Access to education? When we don't have access to those things, we invariably see people in crises."

Smyth responded: "I would agree those things are necessary," he said, "I just don't think they're mutually exclusive."