Protecting The Palm Beaches – February 7th, 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 7 heroes in the line of duty thus far this year.
We’ve lost these heroes since the previous update:
- In Puerto Rico, Officer Baldino Morales-Sanchez was killed in a crash while on motorcycle patrol at a municipal festival.
- In Nevada, Officer Jason Roscow (pictured) was murdered while responding to an emergency call of an armed man threatening residents. Upon responding to the scene the suspect fled, following a chase, the suspect opened fire on Jason. The suspect was killed with return fire.
As we reflect on those we’ve lost, please remember the families of our fallen as well. The average age of the fallen is 49, the average tour-of-duty is 16 years. In addition to losing 7 law enforcement professionals in the line-of-duty in 2025, there are 3 widows and 8 children who lost a parent. Remember to back the badge and spread the word. They need us just as much as we need them.