During that same period, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 630 police officers from state, local, tribal and other federal agencies died from gunshot wounds while on duty.
Why do most of the shot deaths of US law enforcement officers take place outside the FBI, which calls itself “one of the world’s foremost security and crime-fighting forces”?
Some of the answers are expected: Nearly 90% of the country’s law enforcement officers are part of the local and state police forces. They make more arrests. They are much more likely to encounter potentially violent suspects on a daily basis – be it a traffic stop, domestic violence, or some other emergency.
But there are other factors that could explain why fewer officers die from gunfire, law enforcement experts and former officers say.
FBI agents are more likely to build things up step-by-step than to respond to an emergency call. They often work in multi-agency task forces and generally have more time to schedule search warrants and carry them out safely. They build a case against a person and weigh the danger he or she may pose. All of this will reduce the chance of them pulling a gun or having one pulled.
Still, the work is dangerous and plans could end in tragedy, as happened on Tuesday when special agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger and other agents and local police officers attempted to carry out a search warrant at an apartment in Sunrise, Florida, where the suspect had been barricaded. He also died, although the circumstances were not disclosed.
The Florida case, according to authorities, involved alleged violent crimes against children – the most vulnerable in society. Federal convictions for such crimes can lead to lengthy jail terms, and some suspects may think they have a lot to lose, experts say.
“These could be people who think they have big, complicated, important lives and they could have a fraudulent exterior,” said Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI and current senior analyst at CNN.
Take a strategic versus tactical approach
While all law enforcement work is inherently dangerous, there are differences in the scenarios that FBI agents and local officers typically face.
The latter’s “jobs are more tactical. They often have no plan when they come into their service and don’t know what their next call will be,” said James Pasco. executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police. “The circumstances are often more volatile and he or she has no control over the circumstances.” They often need to be in a reactive mode.
Federal agents, on the other hand, are often involved in complex cases including cyber terrorism, domestic terrorism, online fraud and crimes against children such as pornography and human trafficking.
They are proactive in gathering evidence, tracking leads and tips, and reaching out to other law enforcement agencies.
Local police departments also have detectives, but the hallmark of the FBI is in-depth investigations of individuals who could be anywhere – from just down the street to a remote hideout abroad.
“You have the option to do your homework prior to surgery,” said Lazaro “Larry” Cosme, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. “It doesn’t mean it will be a foolproof operation.”
FBI agents, when they penetrate a suspect, have an accurate plan and contingencies, experts say. And they usually determine the time and place of the search or arrest themselves. Often they move in with overwhelming force.
“They typically monitor the environment wherever they go,” said Josh Campbell, CNN security correspondent and a former FBI agent. “It is rare for officers to fire their weapons and receive gunfire.”
But sometimes an operation hits the unknown. There will never be a “complete understanding of every threat,” McCabe says.
Officers try to reduce the risk of armed confrontation
Special agents Alfin, 36, and Schwartzenberger, 43, are remembered for their efforts to combat sex crimes against children. They worked at the FBI’s Miami office in a unit investigating online predators, child pornography, sexual abuse, kidnappings and violent assaults.
An hour before sunrise, she and other agents went to a luxury apartment in Sunrise to issue a search warrant.
Such an operation typically involves local police blocking streets and adding legitimacy, Campbell said.
Going so early has its advantages for law enforcement officers: they generally have the element of surprise. The person may be drowsy. He or she may have had little time to formulate resistance. The goal is to defuse the situation.
“In general, that will result in less violent confrontation,” says Pasco.
It is not known whether the FBI knew that the suspect in Sunrise had weapons. Details of what led to the gunfire were not available. The FBI has not released a record of what happened during the shooting.
The shooter opened fire and Alfin and Schwartzenberger were killed; three officers were injured. Two of them were taken to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and later released. The third agent was treated on the spot.
Most of the time, experts and the FBI say, warrant service ends without incident. “We do a lot of these warrants every day across the country in cases like this,” McCabe said.
But with the abundance of child pornography, “we are getting more and more people who react violently or unpredictably to a search warrant,” he says.
1986 firefight led to more firepower, training
The last cop shot for Alfin and Schwartzenberger was Special Agent Samuel S. Hicks, who was murdered in 2008 while trying to issue an arrest warrant in a drug dealing case in a home near Pittsburgh.
Most of those listed towards the end of the Wall of Honor died as a result of illnesses linked to the response to the 9/11 attacks.
All of this was aimed at protecting the health and lives of agents.
Law enforcement officers died from a variety of causes last year, including car accidents, heart attacks and gunshots. But according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, more died from Covid-19 than all other causes combined, with 145 of the 264 deaths attributed to the virus.
‘Our chosen profession is fraught with danger’
The FBI is investigating what happened in Florida.
“You owe it to the patriots who gave their lives” to see if lessons can be learned or ways agents can better protect themselves, McCabe says.
The loss of two dedicated agents was a hard blow to the agency. Law enforcement and others are in mourning.
William Beller, the chairman of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, told CNN on Wednesday, “We are all siblings in law enforcement.” Overwhelmed with emotion, he said, “I only know that today I was able to hug my children,” and walked away in tears.
The services for the fallen agents took place this weekend at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
It’s important for people to know that being an FBI agent is exciting, but it’s an incredibly difficult and dangerous job, McCabe says.
“Moments like these convey reality in a very visceral way,” he says. ‘It won’t deter them. They will not hand in their weapons tomorrow. ‘
CNN’s Eric Levenson, Travis Caldwell, Rosa Flores, Steve Almasy, Jason Hanna, Harmeet Kaur and Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report.