One fact that cannot disputed
is that most officers let their guard down as they advance
further into their careers. This article addresses
some factual data that's pretty scary.
According to the FBI, a police officer is killed in the line of duty in a
violent assault about once every week. This is in addition
to accidental deaths on the job which in and of itself is almost
double that number bringing police officer deaths to more then 2
a week. In this article we'd like
to
bring to light some of the facts that the FBI has given us (based
off their 2007 statistics) to help officer understand
the numbers and what we can do to help becoming a statistic.
Overview
Most
of the police officers that were slain (35 of 57) were employed
by city police departments. Of these 35 officers, 12 of
the police officers worked in cities with more then 250,000
inhabitants. This would mean that most of your high crime
cities would be in the top percentage of officers becoming slain
in the line of duty. Another interesting note is that
line-of-duty
deaths
occurred in 25 states and Puerto Rico. In
addition, nine officers were feloniously killed in Texas, the
most in any state in 2007.
The Victims' Profiles
The
average age of the police officers who were feloniously killed
turned out to be 37 years old. These same officers had
about 10 years on the job as police officers as well. One
of the most interesting things of the officers' profiles was
that all 57 deaths were males and not one was a female. As
far as the race of the victims, 47 were white, 8 were black, and
1 was Asian/Pacific Islander. And the race of 1 officer
was not provided.
How They Were Slain
The
FBI's stats told us that 16 of the 57 officers that were slain
were from felonious attacks during arrest situations. This
tells us that officers need to be extremely careful while making
the arrest and during the arrest (i.e. putting on the handcuffs,
transporting the suspect, booking the suspect, interrogating,
etc.). Another 16 officers were killed as a result of
being ambushed. This is by far the most scariest as we
cannot predict every ambush. However, officers can at
least be aware of this fact and keep it in the back of their
minds while performing their duties. 11 of the police
officers died during traffic stops and/or pursuits. 5
officers died while responding to disturbance calls, 4 officers
died while investigating suspicious persons/circumstances.
And 3 officers died during tactical situations.
Police Assignments
The
FBI revealed that the officers that were slain were assigned to
the following positions/assignments: 40 police officers were on
assigned vehicle patrol, while 6 of the slain officers were off
duty but acting in an official police capacity. 11
officers were assigned to other duties, such as special
assignments or undercover, when they were murdered. And of
the 57 officers slain in 2007, 35 were assisted at the time of
the attacks. In addition, 16 officers were alone and
unassisted at the time of the incidents.
The Weapons That Were Used
Probably to no surprise, almost every police officer was killed
with a firearm (55 of the 57). Of these 55, 38 of them
were killed with handguns. 2 of the police officers were killed
with their own weapons. Interestingly, 16 police officers
attempted to use their weapons while 11 of these 16 actually
fired their weapons. And another significant fact is that
27 of the 57 officers were slain with firearms when they were
0-5 feet from the offenders. This fact alone tells us we
need to be on high alert while in close proximity with suspects,
and that when practicing our weapon skills, we need to practice
drawing and shooting at close range. Lining up our sites
and making nice shooting groups looks and sounds great, but for
on the job we need to practice close proximity shooting and fast
drawing of our weapons.
Body Armor Worn or Not Worn
Off
all the police officers feloniously killed, 36 of the 57 were
wearing body armor at the time of their murders. This is
pretty scary in and of itself as we feel every officer should be
wearing body armor. Of the 34 officers who were wearing
body armor and killed with firearms, 15 suffered wounds to the
front of the head, 7 were shot in the side of the head, 7 were
wounded in the front upper torso, 2 were shot in the rear of the
head, 2 officers were shot in the back and 1 was shot in the
neck.
Time Of Incidents
Most
of the officer deaths (8) that died from felonious assaults
occurred in the month of March, more than in any other month.
Interestingly, most officers (13) that were involved in fatal
assaults occurred on Saturday, more than any other day. 12 of
the 57 officers killed in the line of duty died from incidents
that occurred on Friday. More officers (12) were fatally
injured in assaults that happened from 12:01 a.m. to 2 a.m. than
at any other time period.
Suspect Profiles
In
2007, 62 alleged offenders were identified in connection with
law enforcement officers feloniously killed. Of those offenders,
the following characteristics are known: The average age of the
alleged offenders was 29 years old, while the average height was
5 feet 9 inches tall. Their average weight was 177 pounds.
All 62 of the alleged offenders were male and 35 of the alleged
offenders were white. 24 were black and 3 were
Asian/Pacific Islander. Most of the alleged offenders, 58
of the 62, had prior criminal arrests and 19 of the alleged
offenders were under judicial supervision at the time of the
incidents. 11 of the alleged offenders were intoxicated or
under the influence of alcohol at the time of the fatal
incidents.
Conclusion
Officers should read over these facts and act and prepare
accordingly while performing their job duties. Some things
will be completely out of our control, but some things are not.
We know that certain areas of our jobs produce much higher risks
then others; areas or duties that we tend to see as routine,
like traffic stops, handcuffing a suspect, etc. have proven to
be higher risk when it comes to officer deaths, yet we do it
every day. As officers with 10 or more years on, we tend
to let our guard down in these basic routine duties when we
should not, and only tend to put our guard up when going to a
man with a gun for example. This can get us killed.
Practice safety for life!
