NCJ Number
147223
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Since the 1970's, the law enforcement community has focused on the concept of officer survival, involving increased firearms training, practical police courses, and tactical simulations.
Abstract
Most of the analyses that have led to this heightened concern are based on the statistics of police officer deaths reported annually by the FBI. This author compares arrest rates for various types of activities as reported in the FBI uniform crime reports to obtain a relative measure of the extent to which officers are potentially facing situations most likely to lead to violent confrontations. This analysis indicates that the use of gross numbers or percentages of officers assaulted or feloniously killed in the line of duty is not a reliable indicator of danger to officers or even danger when engaged in a specific type of law enforcement duty. In fact, this evaluation shows that there has been a continual decreasing trend in such attacks over the past 10 years, indicating no greater increase in risk to police officers. 1 table, 11 figures, and 3 references