Fact brief: Are officer-involved shootings in South Dakota increasing?

South Dakota law enforcement officers have fired their weapons more times in the past five years than any five-year stretch in the past 25 years.

From 2021 to July 9, there have been 32 officer involved shootings. In the previous five-year span (2016-2020), there were 21. In 2022, there were 13, and there have been five in 2025 as of July 7, when a 24-year-old man was shot by Sioux Falls Police multiple times after the man fired a handgun at three officers, according to the Division of Criminal Investigations.

The data does not include shootings on tribal land. 

The Washington Post reported that 1,175 people were killed by law enforcement in 2024 – a record. That number has been steadily rising since 2016, when 959 were killed.

More people with access to guns and the increase in mental health calls and violent crime are cited as factors.