AN ANALYSIS OF ASSAULTS ON POLICE OFFICERS
Every day, police officers face different challenges while on and off duty. Having received the calling to serve and protect, they put their lives on the line to the best of their ability. Many are injured or killed. Every year, about 50,000 or more police officers are assaulted, and about 70% of this number are killed, the remaining 30% injured (source date). This paper explores the patterns and trends of those assaults, with a focus upon the offender.
One typical scenario involves assailants hiding in closets during the search of a home. Another typical scenario involves off-duty running into a crime in progress. Assaults on police officers can occur while on- or off-duty. There have been numerous studies of assaults on police officers.
In one such study (Source date), the author looked at forty incidents over a three year period from 1987 to 1994. Cases were selected based on type and size of the police department, the kind of assignment the officer was handling at the time, and the region of the country the department was located in. Case files were reviewed for the statements made by witnesses and assisting officers, the suspect, and radio transmissions. Surviving officers were interviewed about training, background, preassault behavior, family structure, and law enforcement experience. Offenders were interviewed about criminal history, background, attitude toward police officers, and family structure.
Most police officers who are assaulted are white (90%), male (88%), married (62%), and college graduates (58%) (source date). Their average weight is 186 pounds, their average height 5 feet 9 inches, their average age 33 years old, and they had been in law enforcement an average of 8 years.
The FBI's LEOKA (Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted) report in 1992 stated that 66,975 officers were assaulted (source date). LEOKA data from previous years indicate a trend in off-duty deaths which occur when officers walk up or drive up on robberies in progress. Other situations involve ambush (8 cases over a three year period), assault while investigating suspicious people (4), disturbance calls (2), and traffic pursuits (2). The FBI also did a study which found that fifty offenders killed fifty-four police officers (source date).
LITERATURE REVIEW
In an article entitled Above and Beyond the Call of Duty by Edward F. Davis and Anthony J. Pinizzotto, the prevention of death of police officers doing their job on and off duty is discussed. The main points the article talks about are the deaths of off-duty Police Officers, how the Police Officers were killed, case studies, unarmed and ambush confrontation, and interviews with cop killers. In Line of Fire by Anthony J. Pinizzotto and Edward F. Davis, the article talks about why and how Police Officers in the line of duty are assaulted. In the article killing of officers, policies and training for Officer safety, threats from passengers, and surprise assaults were heavily scrutinizing. In Suicide by Cop: Implications for Law Enforcement Management from the journal of Law and Order Vol. 47 Issue 12 dated December 1999, written by Anthony J. Pinizzotto and Edward F. Davis, the article talks about how people who are suicidal call the Police saying the are going to kill them selves. Some may just start a confrontation that could end in death. The article tells how Police can avoid these kinds of acts by getting as much information from the dispatch as they can before they get to the scene. Also getting backup in dangerous situation such as a suicidal person.
In Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted 1998 by the Uniform Crime Reports, the report consists of 8,000 Police Department that supplied their information of reports in the years of 1998. The first part had statistical information about felonious or accidental death of law enforcement officers from local, state, and federal agencies. The second part of the report gave data of assault on county, city, and state Police Officers. The third part of the report gave data on assaults of Federal Officers, which include the Department of interior, Justice, and Treasury. Clinical and Forensic Indicators of "Suicide by Cop" by Kris Mohandie Ph. D and Reid Meloy Ph.D talks about the motivations of people whom through behavior and risk factors that indicate violence or suicide. These acts are true indicators of suicide by Cop. Models of intervention and prevention are collect from this data collected from past situation so agencies can research for safe resolving of the situation that may occur in the future. Officers Killed by Friendly Fire by Craig W. Floyd from the journal Troopers issue Fall 1998 basically talks about situation where off-duty Police Officers were killed by other Police Officers who were on-duty and mistaken them as armed suspects.
Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted by the FBI and Criminal Information Services Division talks about during 1999 when 42 Officers where murdered and 65 where killed accidentally while performing their Police Officer duties. In the report 8,174 Police agencies reported 55,026 in the line of duty assaults. The report gave date of incidents and information used by agencies for training to develop strategies that help protect Police Officers and the civilians they protect. The report has statistical information of felonies and accidental deaths of on-duty Police Officers in the local, state, and Federal agencies. Faces of Evil We'll Never Forget by Denise Walker Vedder from the journal of Law Enforcement Quarterly Vol. 28 Issue 3 Winter 1999-2000 discusses 12 murders labeled by prosecutors and Police Officers as evil because of the murderers lack of remorse. The article talks the killings of Police Officers, and Officer who was a killer, and other murders who had multiple murders. Responding to Line-of-Duty Death from the Journal Police Chief Vol. 66 dated May of 1999 by Ashton E. Flemming talks about Police Officer benefits programs which made by the Government in 1976 to award Police Officer's death, disability, and education benefit assistance to the survivor of the Police Officer who was killed or totally and permanently disabled while performing their Police duties.
The book, Murdered on Duty: the Killing of Police Officers in America, Second Edition by S G Chapman tries to figure out why Police Officers in the United States are murdered while on duty and what can be done to stop these tragedies from occurring. Learning From the American Tragedy: The Wounding and Killing of Law Enforcement Officers in the United States, Part 1. From the Journal Law Enforcement Trainer Vol. 13 Issue 4 Dated July/August 1998 by B Lindsey talks how in the first part of 1998 in the United States 62 Police Officers were killed while on duty. The article also talked how in 1997 176 Police Officers were also killed while on duty. Guidelines for Line-of-Duty Death: A Summary of Recommended Policies to Follow Prior to and Following the Line -of-Duty Death of Any Law Enforcement Officers in the United States by G S Arenberg also is a book the National Association of Chiefs of Police had put together a booklet discussing steps for Police Departments should take or try when of their own is killed while in the line duty.
RESEARCH METHODS
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
(missing section)
REFERENCES (need to be put in alphabetical order)
1) Above and Beyond the Call of Duty; http://ehostvgw21.epnet.com/fulltext 2) In
the Line of Fire; http://ehostvgw11.epnet.com/fulltext 3) Suicide By Cop:
Implications for Law Enforcement Management; www.ncjrs.com #18710 4) Law
Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted 1998: Uniform Crime Reports;
www.ncjrs.com #181118 5) Clinical and Forensic Indicators of "Suicide by
Cop"; www.ncjrs.com #1821158 6) Officers Killed by Friendly Fire;
www.ncjrs.com #186764 7) Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 1999;
www.ncjrs.com #189807 8) Faces of Evil We'll Never Forget; www.ncjrs.com #181767
9) Responding to Line-of-Duty Deaths: Understanding the PSOB; www.ncjrs.com
#177421 10) Murdered on Duty: The Killing of Police Officers in America. Second
Edition; www.ncjrs.com #175360 11) Learning From the American Tragedy: The
Wounding and Killing of Law Enforcement Officers in the United States, Part 1;
www.ncjrs.com #174282 12) Guidelines for Line-of-duty Death; www.ncjrs.com
#173144
Last updated: 11/14/01