Firearms and Crime - Police Deaths And Injuries

Killings of law enforcement officers have declined dramatically since the 1970s, according to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) (Homicide Trends in the United States, January 10, 2003). The decline is credited

TABLE 5.3

Law enforcement officers feloniously killed, by type of weapon and region, 1993–2002
Region	Total	Total firearms	Handgun	Rifle	Shotgun	Knife or cutting instrument	Bomb	Personal weapons	Other
Note: The 72 deaths that resulted from the events of September 11, 2001, are not included in this table.
SOURCE: "Table 29. Law Enforcement Officers Feloniously Killed; Region by Type of Weapon, 1993–2002," in Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2003, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/killed/02leoka.pdf (accessed October 9, 2004)
Total	636	591	443	112	36	8	9	3	25
Northeast	63	58	48	7	3	2	0	0	3
Midwest	116	106	80	20	6	2	0	0	8
South	278	255	187	48	20	2	9	1	11
West	130	124	85	32	7	2	0	2	2
U.S. territories	49	48	43	5	0	0	0	0	1

TABLE 5.4

Law enforcement officers feloniously killed, by circumstance at scene of incident, 1993–2002
Circumstance	Total	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Note: The 72 deaths that resulted from the events of September 11, 2001, are not included in this table.
SOURCE: "Table 18. Law Enforcement Officers Feloniously Killed; Circumstance at Scene of Incident, 1993–2002," in Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2003, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/killed/02leoka.pdf (accessed October 9, 2004)
Total	636	70	80	74	61	71	61	42	51	70	56
Disturbance calls	98	10	8	8	4	14	16	7	8	14	9
Bar fights, person with firearm, etc.	41	5	4	2	1	3	7	6	4	5	4
Family quarrels	57	5	4	6	3	11	9	1	4	9	5
Arrest situations	205	28	34	21	26	22	16	12	12	24	10
Burglaries in progress/pursuing burglary suspects	23	1	4	4	3	5	0	0	3	3	0
Robberies in progress/pursuing robbery suspects	73	9	18	7	12	11	3	4	1	4	4
Drug-related matters	38	3	4	4	3	1	7	2	3	8	3
Attempting other arrests	71	15	8	6	8	5	6	6	5	9	3
Civil disorders (mass disobedience, riot, etc.)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Handling, transporting, custody of prisoners	20	1	1	4	0	4	4	2	2	2	0
Investigating suspicious persons/circumstances	105	15	15	17	13	10	6	7	6	8	8
Ambush situations	96	5	8	14	6	12	10	6	10	10	15
Entrapment/premeditation	34	3	1	6	2	5	4	4	2	3	4
Unprovoked attacks	62	2	7	8	4	7	6	2	8	7	11
Mentally deranged assailants	15	1	4	1	1	1	0	0	0	3	4
Traffic pursuits/stops	97	10	10	9	11	8	9	8	13	9	10

to the widespread availability since 1975 of lightweight body armor. The development of this armor was spurred by the dramatic rise in officer homicides between 1966 and 1971, from 57 per year to 129. Between 1993 and 2002, 636 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, not including accidental deaths. (See Table 5.3.) Firearms, especially handguns, were involved in 92% (591) of the killings. The FBI report Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2002 (2003) also shows that during that ten-year period, forty-six officers were killed with their own weapons. The BJS reports that in about half of the killings, the killer had previously been convicted of a crime, which might have made him or her ineligible to legally purchase a handgun under the provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.

Table 5.4 and Table 5.5 detail the circumstances under which police officers were killed over a ten-year period. In the case of the 636 officers who were killed feloniously (a crime), the greatest number of killings took place in arrest situations. In the case of the 681 officers who were killed accidentally, an automobile accident was most often involved. Table 5.6 shows the number of assaults on federal officers over a five-year period. In 2002 there were 374 assaults against federal officers, with one resulting in death.

Officers Assaulted

In 2002 more than 58,000 law enforcement officers were assaulted. (See Table 5.7.) A large majority (80%) were attacked with personal weapons such as fists and

TABLE 5.5

Law enforcement officers accidentally killed, by region, geographic division, and state, 1993–2002
Area	Total	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Total	681	59	62	59	52	63	82	65	84	78	77
Northeast	63	3	5	8	7	8	3	6	13	5	5
New England	20	0	1	5	1	2	1	2	6	2	0
Connecticut	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0
Maine	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
Massachusetts	11	0	0	4	0	1	0	1	4	1	0
New Hampshire	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rhode Island	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Vermont	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Middle Atlantic	43	3	4	3	6	6	2	4	7	3	5
New Jersey	11	2	0	1	1	2	0	2	1	1	1
New York	20	1	3	1	3	2	2	1	4	0	3
Pennsylvania	12	0	1	1	2	2	0	1	2	2	1
Midwest	124	16	14	11	6	14	9	11	20	13	10
East North Central	81	9	12	7	3	10	8	5	15	8	4
Illinois	15	3	1	1	0	5	0	0	3	0	2
Indiana	19	1	2	0	1	2	3	3	3	3	1
Michigan	17	1	4	3	1	1	0	2	4	1	0
Ohio	18	0	4	3	1	1	2	0	2	4	1
Wisconsin	12	4	1	0	0	1	3	0	3	0	0
West North Central	43	7	2	4	3	4	1	6	5	5	6
Iowa	4	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kansas	7	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
Minnesota	7	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	2
Missouri	21	2	2	1	1	3	1	2	0	5	4
Nebraska	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0
North Dakota	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Dakota	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
South	325	26	30	31	23	23	41	36	35	40	40
South Atlantic	152	14	17	14	12	6	18	18	16	16	21
Delaware	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
District of Columbia	5	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
Florida	42	5	3	6	0	4	6	7	2	7	2
Georgia	23	3	5	0	3	1	3	2	4	0	2
Maryland	16	1	2	1	1	0	3	0	5	0	3
North Carolina	29	3	2	3	1	1	2	3	2	6	6
South Carolina	17	1	2	1	2	0	1	3	2	0	5
Virginia	12	1	1	2	1	0	2	2	0	1	2
West Virginia	5	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	0
East South Central	61	4	3	6	5	5	5	8	9	9	7
Alabama	16	2	0	4	2	1	1	2	0	2	2
Kentucky	6	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	2
Mississippi	13	2	2	1	0	1	1	1	2	2	1
Tennessee	26	0	1	1	2	2	2	5	6	5	2
West South Central	112	8	10	11	6	12	18	10	10	15	12
Arkansas	15	1	0	1	0	3	7	0	1	1	1
Louisiana	27	1	2	2	4	2	4	6	4	1	1
Oklahoma	11	0	0	2	0	1	3	1	2	1	1
Texas	59	6	8	6	2	6	4	3	3	12	9
West	149	11	13	9	12	16	23	11	15	19	20
Mountain	55	4	6	3	2	5	9	3	5	9	9
Arizona	18	2	2	1	0	0	5	2	2	1	3
Colorado	8	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	2	1
Idaho	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Montana	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Nevada	7	0	0	0	1	2	2	0	0	1	1
New Mexico	7	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	2
Utah	9	0	2	1	0	1	1	0	2	1	1
Wyoming	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Pacific	94	7	7	6	10	11	14	8	10	10	11
Alaska	5	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
California	65	4	5	4	9	7	12	4	9	5	6
Hawaii	5	0	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
Oregon	12	2	0	0	1	3	0	1	1	2	2
Washington	7	1	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	1	1

feet. A lesser number were attacked with weapons other than guns or knives (14%), with firearms (3%), or with knives (2%). Roughly three in ten of the incidents in which officers were assaulted with firearms involved disturbance calls. More than one-fourth (26.6%) of all ambush assaults (attacks made with no warning) on officers involved firearms. About 22% of assaults that occurred during robberies in progress or while pursuing robbery suspects involved firearms.