# How often do police officers commit murder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609 "2025-08-30T18:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/1 "2025-08-30T18:34:12Z")
Specifically _ **excluding** _ the use of excessive force in confrontations with the public while on duty. That is, how often do police officers jealously murder their significant others, or get into lethal bar fights while off-duty, or secretly moonlight as hit men, or occasionally just go psychotic? How does the frequency of such incidents compare to the general homicide rate of society at large– perhaps adjusted to considering only people in a similar socio-economic class? Are police measurably more trustworthy than a random selection of other middle-class citizens? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/2 "2025-08-30T19:08:41Z")
Current police officers committing deliberate mudar seems very rare. I found one case.. Las Vegas Cop killed his wife. But it seems EX-cops do commit murder more. Maybe something about being kicked off the force? Or maybe they were kicked off the force for being violent? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/3 "2025-08-30T19:24:59Z")
How would this have a ln FQ answer. Unless the Blue Wall crumbles when the crime is murder, I expect ALL crimes perpetrated by cops to be vastly underreported, under-investigated and under-prosecuted. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/4 "2025-08-30T19:40:05Z")
Any profession/job would have murderers among its ranks. One analysis came up with the top 12 jobs that attract serial killers. Police/security is one of the 12 fields. Truck drivers and religious figures are among others on the list. [These Are The Professions A Serial Killer Is Most Likely To Work In | IFLScience](https://www.iflscience.com/these-are-the-professions-a-serial-killer-is-most-likely-to-work-in-47630) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/5 "2025-08-30T19:45:24Z")
There won’t be officially reported stats on this, because by definition if the police officer is off-duty, then it won’t be a police matter and won’t be recorded as a police killing. A researcher would need to have made a point of cross-referencing the names of those convicted with murder with their current occupation. Women’s advocacy groups are very interested in tracking police who committed domestic violence, and there have been studies on that, but based on what I can find, the studies are too flawed to be reliable. So if interested and motivated parties can’t even produce a reliable study on police and domestic violence, I imagine it will be equally hard (if not harder) to find a reliable study on other crimes committed by police. Then there’s also the social norm that you’re not supposed to go digging for dirt on police, and that police cover up their own dirt, so that will make it even less likely to get good numbers on this. FQ answer - it seems unlikely that any reliable data exists on this question, or that such data will ever exist. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/6 "2025-08-30T21:17:36Z")
Timely news relevant to the thread: Buford Pusser is now thought to have murdered his wife and staged the scene. > **[Famed Tennessee sheriff who inspired Hollywood movie 'Walking Tall'...](https://abcnews.go.com/US/famed-sheriff-inspired-walking-tall-movie-implicated-wifes/story?id=125126955)** > > New evidence suggests that legendary Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser of "Walking Tall" fame killed his wife, police said. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/7 "2025-08-30T22:04:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But it seems EX-cops do commit murder more. It would make sense that people who show violent predilections would have trouble lasting on the force. So there’s that. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > FQ answer - it seems unlikely that any reliable data exists on this question Probably. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/8 "2025-08-30T23:57:04Z")
[Moderating] > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > How would this have a ln FQ answer. > > Unless the Blue Wall crumbles when the crime is murder, I expect ALL crimes perpetrated by cops to be vastly underreported, under-investigated and under-prosecuted. It is certainly possible that stats aren’t available, or that the stats that are available are obfuscated by official action. However, there’s at least a chance of reasonable stats on the subject, which is what the OP is asking for. We should at least people attempt factual answers before giving up on the thread. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/9 "2025-08-31T02:17:05Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > There won’t be officially reported stats on this, because by definition if the police officer is off-duty, then it won’t be a police matter and won’t be recorded as a police killing. Right, but the Media will mention that it is a police office. I have never EVER heard of a LEO deliberately killing say- his wife- and other officers try to cover that up. My brief search turned up nothing like that. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/10 "2025-08-31T02:29:17Z")
Well, if it was covered up _successfully_… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/11 "2025-08-31T02:46:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I have never EVER heard of a LEO deliberately killing say- his wife- and other officers try to cover that up. My brief search turned up nothing like that. Not exactly that situation, but… (tl;dr version: violent asshole cop killed his ex-wife, after her numerous calls to the police to report domestic abuse never led to charges against him.) Here in the Chicago area, a guy named Drew Peterson has been in the news for 20+ years. He was a decorated sergeant with the police in the suburb of Bolingbrook; in 2002 and 2003, his then-wife, Kathleen Savio, called the Bolingbrook Police 18 times, to report her husband about domestic disturbances and abuse. While the police investigated each time, Drew was never charged nor arrested; in fact, Drew was able to convince local prosecutors to charge Kathleen twice, with domestic abuse (she was acquitted both times). The two of them divorced; shortly after the divorce, Kathleen was found dead in her bathtub, and her death was ruled an accidental drowning. Drew remarried, and in 2007, his new wife, Stacy, went missing. Drew claimed that she had called him, telling him that she was leaving him. He retired from the Bolingbrook Police shortly after her disappearance. In the wake of Stacy’s disappearance, a second autopsy was conducted on Kathleen’s body, and evidence of a struggle was found. Drew was convicted of her murder in 2012, in part because of a number witnesses who overheard Drew saying that he had killed his wife. He’s still in prison (in part because of Kathleen’s murder, in part because he subsequently attempted to hire someone to kill a prosecutor). Stacy has never been found. His wife before Kathleen has come forward, to state that she was abused by Drew for years during their marriage, and that he told her that he “knew how to kill her and make it look like an accident.” AFAIK, there’s no direct evidence that Drew’s former colleagues in the Bolingbrook Police initially covered up evidence of Kathleen’s murder, but at a minimum I think it’s fair to consider it an open question as to how strongly they investigated those 18 domestic-disturbance calls, and whether Drew never being charged in those played any role in his eventual killing of Kathleen, and if Stacy Peterson might still be alive if Peterson had been treated differently by his former colleagues in 2002-4. > **[Did police shield Peterson from abuse charges?](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22031405)** > > Police were called to ex-Sgt. Drew Peterson’s home multiple times because of marital spats. He was never arrested, and now his fourth wife is missing. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/12 "2025-08-31T12:27:45Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Right, but the Media will mention that it is a police office. Where are the stats? > [@DrDeth](#): > > I have never EVER heard of a LEO deliberately killing say- his wife- and other officers try to cover that up. My brief search turned up nothing like that. Isn’t the whole point of a coverup to ensure that the crime isn’t discovered? Particularly by a “brief search”? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/13 "2025-08-31T15:04:37Z")
This is beginning to sound like testimonials for elephant repellent. “Well, you don’t see any elephants around here, do you?” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/14 "2025-08-31T16:33:49Z")
We don’t even have accurate statistics of police killings _on duty_, let alone off duty. Gift link, but requires registering. Can’t help it, this is who reported it. [https://wapo.st/4n3EgRD](https://wapo.st/4n3EgRD) Or Fatal police shootings are increasing, but fewer are being reported - Washington Post [https://share.google/st9rUmxs16NUNlHD2](https://share.google/st9rUmxs16NUNlHD2) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/15 "2025-08-31T18:57:07Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Where are the stats? I believe we have already agreed there are none? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/16 "2025-08-31T19:20:55Z")
Only an anecdote, but Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate was a cop tuned drug dealer turned murderer. > **[Ex-police officer gets life in prison for 4 murders](https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/public-safety/2024/06/10/ex-police-officer-who-once-shared-cell-with-jeffrey-epstein-gets-life-in-prison-for-4-murders)** > > His case drew attention both because of the brutality of the crime and because Tartaglione was briefly a cellmate of Jeffery Epstein. ---
**Author:** ![Sooner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sooner/32/7875_2.png) [@Sooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sooner)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/17 "2025-08-31T20:12:17Z")
It happened in my small town. I am also aware of another local woman’s death, and her Law Enforcement husband is still the chief suspect; although chargers have not been filed. > **[Ex-Monroe police officer confessed to murder](https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2005/07/22/ex-monroe-police-officer-confessed-to-murder/11056448007/#)** > > CHARLOTTE - A former Monroe police officer, serving a life sentence for murder in the 1997 death of a cocktail waitress he’d pulled over in his police cruiser, confessed four years ago to killing the… ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/18 "2025-09-01T05:56:47Z")
I remember reading about a case in Canada (Winnipeg, I think) many years ago - it was a police officer, and part of the evidence against him was … a bloody footprint that matched because he was barefoot. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/19 "2025-09-01T18:56:17Z")
My example from about 30 years ago. San Diego. Two off-duty Sheriff’s Deputies were shot and killed in their bed by the female officer’s ex-boyfriend, also an off-duty Sheriff, who then killed himself. I was watching the TV news when I learned about it, recognized the street name where it occurred, and sure enough it was the very house a close friend of mine had lived in for several years before moving to another city a few years before the triple murder/suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609/20 "2025-09-01T21:43:45Z")
I remember that from _Forensic Files_.\* The-drug-dealers-made-me-do-it was never a believable story. \*F.F. had another story about a California highway patrol officer who had a habit of pulling over female motorists and behaving inappropriately with them, went too far with one and wound up killing her. He gave a TV interview shortly afterward, describing how women could stay safe on the road. > **[Murder of Cara Knott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Cara_Knott)** > > Cara Evelyn Knott (February 11, 1966 – December 27, 1986) was an American student at San Diego State University who disappeared on December 27, 1986, while driving from her boyfriend's home in Escondido, California, to her parents' house in El Cajon. The following day, December 28, Knott's car was found on a dead-end road at the Mercy Road offramp from Interstate 15 in San Diego County. Her body was recovered at the bottom of a 65 ft (20 m) ravine nearby. > Knott's killer, Craig Alan Peyer (born... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-police-officers-commit-murder/1022609.md?page=2)