Police unions and police fatalities in the United States, 1990−2018
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14613557231167678 |
| Author | Dominic D Wells,Bryan K Robinson |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
Police unions and police fatalities
in the United States, 1990−2018
Dominic D Wells
Bowling Green State University, USA
Bryan K Robinson
University of Akron, USA
Abstract
As of 2018, thirty-one states granted collective bargaining rights to police officers that require local government manage-
ment to recognize and collectively bargain in good faith with police unions. Although scholars have identified factors
related to police fatalities, the influence of police unions has gone understudied. Research in other occupational areas
shows that union strength is associated with fewer workplace injuries and fatalities. This research analyzes the influence
of union strength and collective bargaining rights on police fatalities. Using state-level data from 1990 to 2018, a rare-
event analysis of police fatalities indicates that states with strong public employee unions experience fewer accidental
line-of-duty deaths of police officers. Further, this analysis shows that states which grant collective bargaining rights to
police officers have fewer felonious line-of-duty deaths of police officers compared with those that do not grant police
collective bargaining rights. This article concludes with a discussion of the policy implications and the role of collective
bargaining in police safety.
Keywords
Police unions, police fatalities, collective bargaining, felonious police fatalities, accidental police fatalities
Submitted 9 Feb 2023, accepted 17 Mar 2023
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that 73
police officers were feloniously killed in the United States
in 2021. The deaths of these officers were considered
felonious because they were the result of the wilful and
intentional actions of another. This represents a 58.7%
increase from 2020 and is the highest reported total since
2011. Sixty-seven percent of the felonious deaths in 2021
were the result of unprovoked attacks, investigative/
enforcement activities, ambushes, and pursuits. Those
same four categories represented only 39.1% of felonious
police fatalities in 2020 (Federal Bureau of Investigation,
2021).
Similarly, accidental police fatalities increased by 21.7%
to a total of 56 deaths in 2021. These fatalities were consid-
ered accidental because they were the result of acts that
were not wilful or intentional. A strong majority of these
fatalities were the result of motor vehicle crashes and
officers being struck by a motor vehicle. Total accidental
deaths in 2021 were 36.5% higher than in 2019 (Federal
Bureau of Investigation, 2021).
Although scholars have identified a number of factors
associated with police fatalities, the influence of police
unions has been left understudied. In fact, police unions
are understudied not only when it comes to police fatalities,
but also as an interest group and political force for policy
Corresponding authors:
Dominic D Wells, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Bowling Green
State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA.
Email: wellsd@bgsu.edu
Bryan K Robinson, Assistant Dean of Students, University of Akron,
Akron, OH 44325, USA.
Email: brobinson@uakron.edu
Original Research Article
International Journal of
Police Science & Management
2023, Vol. 25(4) 354–367
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/14613557231167678
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