Assaults on the Police

Policing is dangerous business. Law enforcement officers are victims of nonfatal assaults more often than workers in any other occupation, and they are murdered at rates second only to taxicab drivers/ chauffeurs. FBI records indicate that during the decade ending in 2001, an average of more than 130 police officers died each year in the line of duty, and this figure does not include the 72 officers who perished from the terrorist attack on September 11,2001. Almost half of the officers who died in recent years lost their lives at the hands of criminals who attacked them. FBI figures for this time frame also show that more than 19,000 other officers were injured in assaults perpetrated by citizens each year, and that just under 41,000 other officers were victims of attacks in which they suffered no injuries.

As dramatic as these figures are, historical data indicate that violence directed at the police has actually decreased in recent years. According to data kept by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, the two periods of greatest risk for fatal assaults were the years of Prohibition and the early 1970s; the 1920s and early 1930s saw an average of about 120 officers killed feloniously each year, whereas about 150 officers were murdered each year in the early 1970s. Between these two peaks, fatal assaults on officers dropped considerably, reaching a low point during World War II, then fluctuating until the early 1960s, when the numbers began to rise at a precipitous [Page 15]rate, topping out at more than 160 officers murdered in 1973.

The number of officers murdered dropped quite markedly during the rest of the 1970s and through the 1980s, as did nonfatal attacks on officers. This general downward trend in the number of officers killed and assaulted continued into the 1990s, with FBI data indicating there were more than 15,000 fewer assaults on officers (55,971 vs. 71,794) and 24 fewer officers murdered (42 vs. 66) in 1999 as compared to 1990. It is important to note that this trend was not continuous throughout the decade, however, but rather was marked by several peaks and valleys. Moreover, the downward trend observed in the 1990s did not continue into the current decade, as the number of officers assaulted in 2001 was more than 1,500 higher than 1999, and the number of officers murdered jumped by 28 (exclusive of the September 11th attacks).

Although there has been considerable variability in the number of officers killed and assaulted over the years, other aspects of attacks on officers have been remarkably consistent. Regarding fatal attacks, for example, the vast majority of officers slain in each of the past 15 years died from gunshots—more than four out of five. And FBI figures indicate that about 75% of officers murdered by firearms each year were shot with handguns. Some experts maintain that these numbers would be higher if it were not for the increasing use of body armor. Clearly, firearms, and handguns in particular, pose the greatest fatal threat to police officers year in and year out.

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