NCJ Number
144283
Date Published
1993
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The Federal Probation and Pretrial Officers Association conducted a survey of adult and juvenile probation, parole, pretrial officers in all State and territories, and at the Federal level, to determine the rates of violent assaults (murder, rape, other sexual assault, shooting, use of blunt instrument, slashing or stabbing, use of car as a weapon, punching or kicking, use of caustic substance, or use of incendiary device) against officers since 1980.
Abstract
The case set, compiled from data submitted by 459 jurisdictions, consisted of 1,818 completed assaults and 792 attempted assaults. The results are presented, despite some serious methodological flaws. For example, only 48 percent of the jurisdictions contacted responded to the survey; this author speculates that some criminal justice agencies find it shameful to report assaults against law enforcement officers. The six jurisdictions that reported no serious assaults failed to provide additional information on any crime prevention program or model officer safety program they have in place. With few exceptions, the States lack a central data bank that should be developed immediately to respond to all the dangers described here.