Fatal occupational injuries among U.S. law enforcement officers: A comparison of national surveillance systems

Abstract

This study fills a critical knowledge gap by providing an overview of the three surveillance systems used to enumerate LEO occupational deaths. Understanding the differences across the systems is critical when utilizing them for surveillance research.

Occupational homicide of law enforcement officers in the US, 1996–2010

“…The downward trend in occupational homicide rate for LEOs seen in this study is consistent with nationwide trends of decreasing homicide rates,20 rates of fatal occupational injuries,5 and occupational homicides 4 10. These results were also consistent with previous research that found that approximately 90% of homicides of LEOs were perpetrated with firearms 1 2…”

“…We could not conduct an in-depth analysis of if homicide rates were affected by the SOC coding change. However, we are confident in our conclusions that homicide rates for LEOs have continued to decrease because Hendricks and colleagues4 and Tiesman and colleagues10 found that these rates were decreasing before and after, respectively, the coding change.…”

“…The strict LEOKA definition limits the generalisability of these findings to other public safety professions. An analysis of three different LEO fatality surveillance systems found that the LEOKA reported less LEO deaths annually than the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund annual report 10. Thus, it is possible that this analysis of LEO homicides using all available LEOKA reports does not capture all LEO homicides.…”

Law enforcement duties and sudden cardiac death among police officers in United States: case distribution study

“…1 2 Most of these on duty fatalities are traumatic. 2 Statistics for deaths of police on duty that are attributable to cardiovascular disease events are not well documented but are estimated to account for 7% of fatalities. 3 Cardiovascular events among police officers on duty are perceived with increasing concern by the law enforcement community and the general public.…”

Effects of state-level policy changes on homicide and nonfatal shootings of law enforcement officers

“…While the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) report's strict definition of a ‘LEO’ often results in undercounting of LEO homicides compared with other data sources,37 the database contains a number of important details that allow for the stratification of assaults by weapon type to better estimate the policy effects. This is the first study to estimate the impact of PTP laws on LEO assault and the first to examine the effects of state-level policies on non-fatal LEO assaults.…”