Officer Firearms Assaults at Domestic Violence Calls: A Descriptive Analysis
| Author | Richard R. Johnson |
| Published date | 01 March 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2008.81.1.407 |
| Date | 01 March 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
RICHARD R. JOHNSON
Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, University
of Toledo, USA
OFFICER FIREARMS ASSAULTS
AT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CALLS:
A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
Domestic violence calls pose great dangers for the safety of
police officers in the US as thousands of police officers are
assaulted annually while handling domestic violence and
domestic disturbance calls. Each year many officers are injured
or killed in these assaults, the majority of fatal assaults
involving firearms. The present study is a descriptive analysis
of 143 incidents of a firearm assault against 225 victim police
officers who were handling domestic calls at the time of their
victimisation. The characteristics of these cases are described
at the incident, assailant, and officer levels. Comparisons are
made with the characteristics of fatal police officer assaults in
the US in general, and policy recommendations are offered.
Keywords: domestic violence; officer safety; police officer
assaults
Introduction
At one point in the history of policing, domestic violence calls
were thought to be the most dangerous situations handled by
officers. In a report on family crisis intervention published by the
US Department of Justice, Bard (1970) stated that 22% of all
police officers murdered in the line of duty were killed while
handling family violence incidents. This report went on to
describe family disturbances as the single most dangerous call
that police officers handle. These statements, however, were
based on data for officers killed at all types of disturbances,
including bar fights and shots-fired calls, not just family dis-
turbances. It was incorrectly assumed at the time that family
violence calls made up the majority of general disturbance call
assaults (Hirschel, Dean & Lumb, 1994).
Several later studies of officer assaults and murders found
that more officers were injured and killed while conducting
traffic stops or handling general disturbances than while handling
domestic violence calls (Bannon, 1976; Chapman et al., 1974;
Garner & Clemmer, 1986; Hirschel et al., 1994; Stanford &
Mowry, 1990; Uchida et al., 1987). In these studies, domestic
The Police Journal, Volume 81 (2008) 25
DOI: 10.1358/pojo.2008.81.1.407
violence calls ranked between third and sixth place for danger
potential to officers. Nevertheless, while other types of situations
may pose a greater danger to officers, domestic violence calls are
far from safe. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) LEOKA reports, each year tens of thousands of police
officers in the United States are assaulted while handling
domestic violence calls. In these assaults every year hundreds of
officers are injured and between five and seven are killed (FBI,
1985; 1990; 1995; 2000; 2005).
The most serious of these assaults involve assaults on an
officer with a firearm. The danger to police officers posed by
firearms in the handling of domestic violence calls is great, and
therefore further study is needed to understand fully these
firearms assault incidents. It is imperative that these types of
assaults be analysed to understand how they occur so that
officers can strategise how to survive or avoid them. A better
understanding of the circumstances surrounding officer firearms
assaults at domestic violence calls could assist police agencies in
developing policies and procedures that could improve officer
safety. Educating officers about how these types of assaults
occur may also encourage individual officers to proceed with
more caution. For these purposes the present study sought to
investigate the situational circumstances, offender character-
istics, and victim officer characteristics in a sample of firearms
assaults on police officers who were handling domestic violence
calls. This is the first published study to address specifically
these types of firearms assaults.
Dangerousness of Domestic Violence Calls
The frequency with which officers are assaulted while handling
domestic violence calls has varied from study to study and
location to location. Chapman and associates (1974) reviewed all
assaults on police officers in 37 cities in the United States during
a one-year period and found that only 8.6% of the assaults on
officers had occurred at family disturbances. Bannon (1976)
reviewed assaults against officers in Detroit, Michigan and
similarly found that only 8.5% had occurred at family dis-
turbances. Hirschel and associates (1994) analysed assaults on
officers for a three-year period in Charlotte, North Carolina.
They found that family disturbance calls ranked only fifth out of
ten call categories for likelihood of incurring an officer assault.
Konstantin (1984) reviewed national data collected by the
FBI and found that over a three-year period only 5.2% of all
police officers murdered were killed while handling family
26 The Police Journal, Volume 81 (2008)
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