As of June 2025, police-involved fatalities may be rising. An exclusive report by WTTW earlier this week highlighted that Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers were involved in 12 shootings during the first five months of 2025, resulting in six fatalities. This matches the total number of such incidents reported in all of 2024.
One additional fatal police shooting in early June brought Chicago’s first-half total to roughly 13 shot and 7 killed, including a police officer who received an accidental but fatal wound from her partner, while in the pursuit of suspects.
There have reportedly been five off-duty suicides by officers using their service weapon or a gun over the last year and a half, based on official reported rulings; and four police officers have been killed in the line-of-duty between 2024 and 2025.
In response to WTTW’s June 16th’s findings involving civilians, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration emphasized that focusing solely on these numbers does not constitute evidence against the reforms implemented in the Chicago Police Department. The administration stated: “Decontextualizing the incidents by just looking at the topline number is not evidence that the reforms to the Chicago Police Department are ineffective or unnecessary. There is no evidence that the increase in police-involved shootings in the past five months is in any way related to the reforms set out by the consent decree,” his office reportedly said.
While big city mayors, council leaders and their local law enforcement agencies enjoy record drops in violent crime and homicides, police reform advocates continue to monitor police-involved shooting incidents.
In 2024, Mapping Police Violence recorded 1,365 deaths, averaging one every 6.44 hours, with only 10 days without an incident—the highest number since 2013.
The Pew Research Center observed notable racial disparities in fatal or serious injury incidents involving police. Their 2020 report on race and policing noted that Black Americans were nearly three times more likely to be involved in such incidents compared to White Americans. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander individuals faced the highest disparity, being 7.6 times more likely to experience police-involved fatalities than White individuals.
Other reports also suggest an increase in police violence in cities with less public scrutiny, particularly in southern regions such as in Texas. Factors cited include the rollback of federal reform initiatives and administrative measures related to accountability for officers.
Between 2015 and 2024, Illinois saw 277 fatal line-of-duty police shootings during that period, according to the Washington Post Fatal Force Database. CPD remains under a federal consent decree, which some activists believe is not being adequately enforced.
Law enforcement leaders, however, have cited widespread implementation of de-escalation training, additional mental health interventions and restrictive force policies that have aided in reducing police-involved shootings.
In New York, police-involved shootings remain relatively low. While exact current 2025 figures were not published, NYPD’s historical trends show only a handful of such shootings annually – a result of longstanding firearms discharge reforms.
The Post’s Fatal Force database includes every fatal police shooting by on-duty officers from Jan 1, 2015, through Dec 31, 2024. Los Angeles, according to the researchers, recorded 13 fatal police shootings in 2024. No current numbers are available.
“We have questions and you’re not gonna get them from police,” said a local activist, who requested anonymity because “I just don’t want my name in this right now. Adding, his group has been vocal about “all of these cases,” he and others believe “ignoring and defending the indefensible is immoral,” he said, referring to city leaders.
May 25th marked five years since George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. The former officer, Derek Chauvin, was found guilty on charges of murder and manslaughter and received a sentence exceeding 20 years in prison.
President Donald Trump, who pushes a law-and-order platform and recently sent the U.S. military into a city to quell American protestors has been vocal about criminal justice reforms that have unfairly penalized officers for doing their jobs. “We’re going to give our police their power back and we are going to give them immunity from prosecution,” he said in a press interview while seeking office.
On April 28th of this year, the President signed, “Executive Order 14288: “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement,” which directs the U.S. Attorney General to develop a system providing legal resources and indemnification for officers who face legal liabilities for actions taken while enforcing the law.
On January 20 of this year President Trump also signed Executive Order 14148, which rescinded Joe Biden-era directives, including the creation of a National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, further shifting federal policy in favor of law enforcement.
The Washington Post confirmed that it stopped updating its Fatal Force database after December 31, 2024, meaning it will no longer track fatal police shootings in 2025. Its owner, Amazon juggernaut Jeff Bezos contributed $2 million to the Trump campaign, including cash and in-kind media services and blocked the publication’s intended endorsement of then Vice President Kamala Harris, before making other substantial cuts.