New FBI data released today finds that the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty — that is, killed with felonious intent by a suspected criminal — plummeted to 27 in 2013, its lowest level in decades.

Notably, the sharp decline in officer fatalities comes even as the number of justifiable homicides by officers, which the FBI defines as „the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty,“ climbed to its highest level since 1994 last year.