What Changed

On July 1, 2026, the National Fraternal Order of Police published its midyear count of officers shot in the line of duty. "As of midnight on 30 June, there have been 169 officers shot in the line of duty in 2026," the FOP reported.

The FOP's count is a tally, not a study. It does not explain causes or medical outcomes. But it is one of the few regular, national counts of officers hit by gunfire, and it deserves a place in budget conversations.

The Numbers

As reported by the FOP, through June 30, 2026:

  • 169 officers shot, up 2% from the same point in 2025 and down 13% from 2024.
  • 15 of them killed, down 28% from 2025 and down 44% from 2024.
  • 28 ambush-style attacks on officers, in which 36 officers were shot and 6 were killed.

By our arithmetic from the FOP's figures, 154 of the 169 officers shot survived their wounds, or about 91%. That is our calculation, not an FOP statement, and survival is not the same thing as recovery.

Why It Matters Operationally

Most officers who are shot live, which means the first minutes after the wound can make a real difference. In those minutes, the care often comes from the officer, a partner or the next unit through the door, not from EMS. In many systems, EMS stages until the scene is secured.

That puts the medical outcome of many shootings in the hands of line officers. Whether they can place a tourniquet on themselves with one hand, pack a wound that a tourniquet cannot reach, or seal a chest wound depends on how they were trained and how recently.

The ambush numbers make the point sharper. An officer hit without warning is often alone, in or near a vehicle, with no time to plan. Self-aid is the only aid in that moment.

We cannot say, and the FOP does not say, how many of the 154 survivors were helped by field care. We will not claim that training saved anyone in this data. The argument is simpler. When most shot officers survive the initial wound, what happens next is worth planning and funding for.

ODM's Position

Position: Medical training is officer-safety training. It should be funded in the recurring budget, taught with hands-on repetition and refreshed on a schedule, just like firearms.

Evidence: The FOP's count shows a steady number of officers shot each year, most of whom survive. The TCCC Guidelines, listed by the Joint Trauma System, start with hemorrhage control, including self-aid: "Stop life-threatening external hemorrhage if tactically feasible." For civilian law enforcement, C-TECC's Tactical Emergency Casualty Care puts massive hemorrhage control in the first phase of care. Both treat bleeding control as a skill to practice, not just a product to buy.

Strongest counterpoint: Budgets are finite. Chiefs are balancing staffing shortages, overtime and a long list of mandated training. A tally of shootings does not prove any particular course changes outcomes. Wound location, distance to a trauma center and luck all matter.

That is fair. But the counterpoint is about how much to spend, not whether. A short annual block of realistic casualty care costs little compared with the cost of a single officer lost or disabled.

What good looks like: Every officer carries a tourniquet and hemostatic gauze on the body. Each officer runs self-aid and buddy-aid under stress at least once a year, including wounds a tourniquet cannot treat. Medical scenarios are part of firearms and patrol training, not a separate slideshow. The line item is in the recurring budget, not dependent on a one-time grant.

What Your Agency Should Do Now

  • Pull your own numbers: how many officers were injured last year, and when each last trained in hands-on hemorrhage control.
  • Put medical training in the recurring budget with a named line item.
  • Add a medical problem to every firearms qualification or scenario day.
  • Train one-handed self-aid, in and around a patrol vehicle.
  • Report the training to your council or commissioners, so readiness is visible when budgets are set.

Bottom Line

The FOP's midyear count is a reminder that officers will be shot this year, and most will survive the initial wound. What happens in the next few minutes depends on training that leadership chooses to fund.

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