FOP President Patrick Yoe’s letter in support of “Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods Act.”

In 2020, the United States saw the largest rise in homicides since the start of national record-keeping in 1960. Approximately 21,570 people were murdered in the United States in 2020—the most since 1995—a 29.4% increase over 2019. Additionally, the FBI estimates that 77% of all murders in the United States in 2020 were via firearms, up from 73% in 2019. At the same time that the murder rate rose, the clearance rate for murders fell significantly, from 61.4% in 2019 to 54.4% in 2020. In cities with a population above 250,000, the rate was even more dramatic, falling from 57.6% in 2019 to 47.3% in 2020.