Reducing Attacks on Police
| Author | Samuel G. Chapman |
| Date | 01 October 1986 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8605900403 |
| Published date | 01 October 1986 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
SAMUEL
G.
CHAPMAN.
Department
of
Political Science,
University
of
Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.
REDUCING
ATTACKS
ON
POLICE
Introduction
The increasing numbers of both fatal and non-fatal attacks on
officers has prompted concern
about
the occupational safety of
police, not just from among the officers themselves, but from
quarters outside law enforcement. In fact, murders and assaults on
police officers lessen the appeal of law enforcement as a career,
polarize the public and jeopardize the American concept of liberty
within the framework of law. Clearly, a critical problem exists
nationwide and means must be found to reduce assaults on police
officers and the murders which stem from such victimization.
The Scope
of
the Problem
About July l, 1985, the one millionth assault on an American police
officer happened since records were first kept in 1960. These
attacks have resulted in the murder of 2,129 police and the injury of
about
328,000 others. In addition, there were some 631,000
incidents where lawmen suffered no injury other than the
humiliation of an attack on themselves.'
Nationally, the incidence of police deaths has grown notably
since 1960 when the FBI first published annual
data
which
highlighted this type of murder. With little relief, that number has
mounted each year to a high of 132 victims in 1974. While fewer
lawmen have been murdered each year since then, there have still
been significantly more than the 28 who fell in 1960.
With only one significant exception between 1972-1975, assaults
on police officers have, like deaths, shown an almost consistent
increase over the 9,621 attacks reported by the FBI in 1962.2The
number of police officers assaulted and murdered each year from
1960 through 1984 is shown in Table One.
Female Officer Victims
While the number of female officer assault victims is
not
known,
over 15 have been murdered on duty while engaged in police roles.
The nation's first female officer murder victim was a 24-year-old
black officer, a one-year veteran with the District of Columbia
police. Ms. Gail A.
Cobb
was on foot patrol in September, 1974,
when a citizen told her that two armed and wanted men were hiding
in an underbuilding parking lot after having exchanged gunfire with
other officers. The officer, who came from a family where police
300 October 1986
TABLE
I
THE
NUMBER
OF
ASSAULTS
ON
POLICE
OFFICERS
AND
POLICE
OFFICERS
MURDERED
BY
YEAR
1960
THROUGH
1984
Number
Rate Assaults Rate of Police
Total Per 100 with Per 100 Officers
Year Assaults Officers Injury Officers Murdered
1960 9,621 6.3 NR* NR 28
1961 13,190 8.3 NR NR 37
1962 17,330 10.2 NR NR 48
1963 16,793 11.0 NR NR 55
1964 18,001 9.9 7,738 4.3 57
1965 20,523 10.8 6,836 3.6 53
1966 23,851 12.2 9,113 4.6 57
1967 26,755 13.5 10,770 5.4 76
1968 33,604 15.8 14,072 6.6 64
1969 35,202 16.9 11,949 5.7 86
1970 43,171 18.7 15,165 6.6 100
1971 49,768 18.7 17,631 606 126
1972 37,523 15.1 12,230 5.8 112
1973 32,535 15.0 12,880 5.9 127
1974 29,511 15.1 11,468 5.9 132
1975 44,867 15.4 18,974 6.5 129
1976 49,079 16.8 18,737 6.4
III
1977 49,156 15.3 17,663 5.5 93
1978 56,130 16.1 21,075 6.2 93
1979 59,031 17.3 21,764 6.4 106
1980 57,847 16.7 21,516 6.2 104
1981 57,116 17.2 20,272 6.1 91
1982 55,755 17.5 17,116 5.4 92
1983 62,324 16.5 20,807 5.5 80
1984 60,153 16.2 20,205 5.4 72
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Data
were extracted from each Uniform Crime
Report
for the years
set out above. An additional 79 officers were murdered during
1985.
*NR: Not reported in Uniform Crime Reports until 1964.
October
1986
301
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