Assaults against U.S. law enforcement officers in the line-of-duty: situational context and predictors of lethality

Abstract

BackgroundResearch on occupational safety of law enforcement officers (LEOs) has primarily focused on fatal assaults. Nonfatal assaults, however, have received little attention. The goal of this study was to describe the situational contexts in which LEOs are assaulted, and compare these contexts and risks between fatal and nonfatal assaults in the U.S. Analyzing both types of assaults provides a more complete understanding of occupational safety and opportunities for intervention.MethodsThis study includes a descriptive epidemiology of fatal and nonfatal assaults of LEOs in the U.S. and a pooled cross-sectional analysis of risk factors contributing to the odds of lethal assault. Data were collected from the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted database. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize fatal and nonfatal assaults. Odds ratios were generated to understand the odds that an assault would result in a fatality.ResultsBetween 1998 and 2013, there were 791 fatal assaults and 2,022 nonfatal assaults of LEOs. Nearly 60% of primary wounds in fatal assaults were received to the head, neck, or throat while nearly 50% of primary wounds in nonfatal assaults were received to the arms/hands or below the waist. The odds that an assault resulted in a fatality decreased by 57% (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.32 to 0.58) when a LEO was wearing body armor. LEOs experiencing an ambush or unprovoked attack had significantly increased odds of an assault resulting in a fatality (OR 3.27, 95% CI 1.83 to 5.85 and OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.44 to 3.47 respectively). LEOs that were disarmed during an encounter with a suspect had more than 2-fold increased odds of an assault resulting in a fatality (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.48 to 3.38).ConclusionsThere are specific situational and encounter characteristics that influence the lethality of an assault, which suggest strategies for prevention. Mandatory wear policies for the use of body armor could significantly reduce mortality among assaulted LEOs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40621-016-0094-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Gun victimization in the line of duty

“…In the same vein, even though Crifasi et al. (2016) differentiated fatal from nonfatal firearm assaults in their study of assault lethality, their reliance on LEOKA data raises concerns about the reliability of their firearm assault estimates similar to other studies employing this data set.…”

“…Scholars have noted for some time, however, that analyses focused on felonious line-of-duty deaths systematically underestimate the full scope of danger that officers face by excluding nonfatal assaults (see Brandl, 1996). Accordingly, other research has analyzed nonfatal assaults, specifically (Shjarback & Maguire, 2019;Tiesman et al, 2018), both fatal and nonfatal assaults (Crifasi, Pollack, & Webster, 2016;Fridell, Faggiani, Taylor, Brito, & Kubu, 2009), or some combination of fatal assaults, nonfatal assaults, and line-of-duty accidents (Brandl, 1996;White et al, 2019). These related streams of research provide invaluable insight but, of course, also come with important limitations.…”

“…In 2010, the most recent year of NIBRS available to Bierie et al (2016), approximately 5,400 agencies from 37 states were represented in NIBRS, capturing only 37% of agencies and oversampling on small-and mediumsized agencies (2016, p. 506). In the same vein, even though Crifasi et al (2016) differentiated fatal from nonfatal firearm assaults in their study of assault lethality, their reliance on LEOKA data raises concerns about the reliability of their firearm assault estimates similar to other studies employing this data set.…”

A pilot study of brain injury in police officers: A source of mental health problems?

“…The police are likely to have an increased risk of injury due to the very dynamic situations that they are exposed to, for example, restraining non-compliant offenders, traffic pursuits and stops, and attending domestic calls (Crifasi, Pollack & Webster, 2016). In fact, 10,399 assaults with injury on constables were recorded across all forces in England and Wales in 2018/19 (Office for National Statistics, 2019), an increase of 27% compared to the previous year.…”

“…Several studies have used national injury databases to examine occupational injury rates in the police. For example, Crifasi et al (2016) using the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted database showed that between 1998 and 2013, 482 (61%) fatal and 505 (25%) non‐fatal head, neck and throat injuries occurred in U.S. police. Similarly, Reichard & Jackson (2010) used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System to examine occupational injuries across 67 U.S. emergency departments.…”