New Comprehensive Dataset on Threats to America’s Public Servants Reveals Over A Decade of Danger

Dataset shows a rise in violent threats to public servants at all levels of government, across political lines, and nationwide since 2013

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, The Impact Project and the Public Service Alliance (PSA) released The Security Map, a new dataset that reveals an escalation in violent threats against public servants across the United States over more than a decade. The findings show that between 2013 and 2025, violent threats targeting public officials have surged across all levels of government and political parties, with judges, law enforcement, election workers, and local government employees among the most frequent targets.

The Security Map is one of the most comprehensive public datasets of its kind, aggregating over 1,100 news reports on threats to public servants between 2015-2025 from The Impact Project, nearly 2,000 records of threats to local officials between 2022-2025 from the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University, and more than 500 federal court records documenting threats to public servants between 2013-2022 from Chapman University and the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE) at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

"This data reveals what many public servants already know from firsthand experience: the threat environment has fundamentally changed. We're seeing not only an increase in volume, but also an expansion in who's being targeted," said Abby André, Executive Director & Co-Founder at The Impact Project. "A decade ago, threats were concentrated at the federal level. Today, school board members, county clerks, and even mail carriers face similar dangers. The Security Map provides the data needed to inform nationwide solutions to this problem."

"The price of public service is unacceptably high, with threats to public servants and their families skyrocketing over the last decade. This jeopardizes our government’s ability to deliver for the American people and contradicts American values," said Isabella Ulloa, PSA Founder & CEO. "We built PSA to provide practical, scalable solutions for the nearly 40 million people who’ve chosen to serve their communities, including through the first marketplace that saves them time and money on services that help protect their privacy, security, and personal and professional well-being.”

After analyzing over 1,100 news reports, The Impact Project identified several key trends:

• Any public servant can become a target. Whereas a decade ago, media reports largely focused on threats to federal officials, reporting now includes threats to public servants at every level of government, with judges, law enforcement, military personnel, and local government employees among the most frequent targets.
• One form of threat often precipitates another and threatening statements occur at nine times the rate of physical threats, creating dangerous chilling effects.
• Threats against public servants occur in every state across the country, with roughly a quarter concentrated in the seven battleground states, where heightened political tension likely creates disproportionately high risk.
• While federal public servants remain the most frequent targets, local public servants account for one-third of the threats analyzed.

The Security Map is one of the most comprehensive snapshots of threats to America’s public servants, but it does not capture the entire threat landscape since 2013. Threats often go underreported, many are not formally investigated, and only a portion are covered in the news. Further, information gaps remain, including around the links between threatening statements and physical violence, how doxxing may amplify coordinated harassment, some ideological dimensions of these threats, and the scale of sexual and gender-based violence. The Security Map will continue to expand as new cases are identified and verified, and an additional layer tracking responses to violent threats will be released in the coming months.

PSA and The Impact Project partnered to build The Security Map to raise awareness of the threat landscape facing public servants nationwide and amplify resources to support them. Through the PSA Marketplace, America’s nearly 40 million current and former public servants, across political lines, can save time and money on trusted services that help protect their and their families’ privacy, security, and personal and professional well-being.

Explore The Security Map at TheImpactProject.org/Security-Map/.

About The Impact Project: The Impact Project is a nonpartisan data and research platform that builds tools to demonstrate the nationwide value of public service and the localized impacts of government decisions for increased community resilience. Learn more at TheImpactProject.org.

About The Public Service Alliance: The Public Service Alliance is the first nonpartisan platform built to empower America’s nearly 40 million current and former public servants across political lines to better and more affordably protect themselves and their families. Learn more at ThePublicServiceAlliance.com.