Between 1962 and 1992, a total of 2,578 police officers were killed in the line of duty. The typical victim is a white male with 9 years of law enforcement experience who is killed by a firearm, most commonly a handgun. To reduce these murders, policy, contract, or State legislation should require that at least all uniformed officers wear protective body armor, and that body armor meet State specifications and pass an annual quality control inspection; and provide for exceptions based on medical, environmental, or situational events. Other actions should include reduced workers compensation for failure to wear protective body armor that could have prevented death or injury, mandatory training and retraining in topics such as weapon retention and survival tactics, and permission for police officers to carry semiautomatic handguns with the safety on. Tables and 4 references (Author abstract modified)