NCJ Number
141983
Date Published
1992
Length
82 pages
Annotation
This report presents tables, charts, and narrative comments regarding the number of law enforcement officers killed or assaulted during 1991, as well as comparisons with the previous nine years.
Abstract
The data cover felonious and accidental deaths of sworn Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers having full arrest powers and assaults on sworn city, county, State, and Federal law enforcement officers. During 1991, 71 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, an increase from the 66 killed in 1990 and a decrease of 4 percent from 1987 and 23 percent from 1982. Sixty-eight of the police officers killed were male and three were female. Their average age was 36 years, and they had an average of 8 years of experience. Seventy were killed upon responding to disturbance calls, 14 during arrest situations, 13 while enforcing traffic laws, 11 in ambushes, 10 while investigating suspicious persons or circumstances, and six while handling or transporting prisoners. Twenty-nine of these fatalities occurred in the southern states, the most populous region; 20 in the midwest; seven each in the western and northeastern States and Puerto Rico; and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fifty-two police officers died as the result of accidents in 1991. Thirty-six were killed in automobile, motorcycle, and aircraft accidents; eight were struck by vehicles; one was accidentally shot; and the other seven were killed in other types of accidents. Nationwide, an average of 16 of every 100 law enforcement officers were assaulted in 1991. The rate was highest in the southern States. Tables and figures