Police K-9 line-of-duty deaths and heatstroke 2000–2023

As with their human counterparts, police K-9s face dangers, including death, while in service. However, police K-9 research is significantly lacking, limiting possible preventive interventions. As such, we use data collected by the Officer Down Memorial Page from 2000–2023 on K-9 deaths (N = 407) to understand trends and correlates of these line-of-duty deaths, with an emphasis on heatstroke. Following gunfire, heatstroke is the second-leading cause of line-of-duty deaths for K-9s, with more than one in five deaths attributed to heatstroke. Being left unattended and mechanical failures overwhelmingly (70.6%) characterized these heatstroke deaths. Summer months were also significantly implicated in increasing the odds of line-of-duty heatstroke deaths. However, age, gender, breed, and climate region were not associated.