Protecting The Palm Beaches – January 10th, 2025
Bottom Line: This weekly feature is designed to recognize those who've paid the ultimate price in service and to serve as a reminder of what our police risk to keep us safe. Unfortunately, after progress was made in reducing line of duty deaths in 2023 – we weren’t able to sustain that progress last year. LODs rose by 17% nationally in 2024, with five additional LODs within the state of Florida. A total of 342 officers were shot in the line of duty resulting in 50 deaths – an 8% increase year over year.
- We lost 144 heroes in the line of duty in 2024 including 8 in Florida
- We’ve lost 2 heroes in the line of duty thus far this year.
We’ve lost these heroes since the previous update.
- In Alabama, Lieutenant Mark Meadows (pictured) was struck and killed by a motorist while putting out traffic cones. An Army veteran, he’s survived by a wife and three children.
- In California, Deputy Timothy Corlew was killed in a crash while on patrol. He’s survived by a wife and two children.
As we reflect on those we’ve lost, please remember the families of our fallen as well. The average age of the fallen is 50, the average tour-of-duty is 16 years. In addition to losing 2 law enforcement professionals in the line-of-duty in 2025, there are 2 widows and 5 children who lost a parent.