Crime Prevention Law Enforcement and Public Opinions About Crime - Federal Law Enforcement

According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) survey, in June of 2002 federal agencies employed more than 93,000 full-time officers authorized to make arrests and carry guns. This figure reflects an almost 6 percent increase from June of 2000. Of the major federal employers in 2002, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) employed the most officers (19,407), almost half of whom were Border Patrol agents. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) accounted for 14,457 officers, the U.S. Customs Service for 11,977, and the FBI for 11,398. (See Table 9.8.)

In 2002, 85.2 percent of federal officers were male. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), one of the agencies with 500 or more officers, had the largest proportion of female agents, at 28 percent. The DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) had the smallest proportion of female officers, only 8.6 percent. Racial or ethnic minorities filled 32.4 percent of all federal law enforcement positions. Hispanics, who can be of any race, accounted for 16.8 percent of federal officers, and non-Hispanic blacks made up another 11.7 percent. Asian/Pacific Islanders (2.5 percent) and American Indians (1.2 percent) were also represented in the federal force. (See Figure 9.1.)

Federal Officers Assaulted and Killed

From 1998 to 2002 a total of 2,772 federal officers were assaulted. The assaults resulted in eight fatalities, one of which occurred in 2002. The 374 federal officers assaulted in 2002 was the lowest number of assaults during this period, with 653 assaults in 1998 being the highest. In

TABLE 9.2
Law enforcement officers feloniously killed, by circumstances at scene of incident, 1993–2002

Circumstance	Total	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
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
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, by Circumstance at Scene of Incident, 1993–2002," in Crime in the United States, 2002: Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, DC, 2003

2002 personal weapons (hands, feet, etc.) were used in 173 incidents, firearms were used in 34 incidents, and threats accounted for 65 incidents.

In July of 1998 the nation was shocked by a shooting in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Russell E. Weston, Jr., was charged with fatally shooting two Capitol police officers, Jacob J. Chestnut and John M. Gibson. Both men were buried with honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Weston himself was wounded in the gunfire exchange but recovered. Also wounded was a young female tourist.