Rhetoric vs. reality of decreasing danger for police over time

• Published date: 01 February 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12423
• Date: 01 February 2019
• Author: Jennifer C. Gibbs

DOI: 10.1111/1745-9133.12423

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

POLICE OFFICER DEATHS IN THE U.S.

Rhetoric vs. reality of decreasing danger for police

over time

Jennifer C. Gibbs

Penn State Harrisburg

Correspondence

JenniferC. Gibbs, Penn State Harrisburg, 777 W. Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA17057.

Email:jengibbs@psu.edu

Policing is a dangerous profession. The Bureau of Labor Statistics National Census of Fatal Occupa-

tional Injuries in 2016 reported a 32% increase in work-related fatalities of police and other protective

workers between2015 and 2016, with police homicides increasing by 50% during t he same time period.

Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported other occupations such as logging, fishing, aircraft

pilots/flight engineers, and roofers have a higher rate of fatal work injuries, police are arguably in the

only profession where others intentionally attempt to harm them. Indeed, in response to the renewed

spotlight regarding police use of force since the events in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, some have

claimed media and public vitriol for law enforcers has led to a “war on cops,” highlighting the danger

faced by police officers in the course of their daily duties.

Further evidence of this “war-on-cops” rhetoric includes the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and

Assaulted (LEOKA) reports compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As of December 13,

2018, 53 officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty in 2018, representing a 23% increase from

the same time period in 2017 when 43 officers were feloniously killed (Federal Bureau of Investigation,

2017, 2018b). In addition to felonious killings of police, nonfatal assaults totaled around 60,000 in 2017

(Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2018a: Table 82). Considering more than 700,000 sworn officers

serve throughout the United States (Hyland, 2018), the number of homicides and assaults on police

seems statistically low. Michael White, Lisa Dario, and John Shjarback (2019, this issue), however,

calculate that, on average, ∼160 assaults targeting police occur every day, and the authors point out

that 10% of police in the United States are assaulted annually. From this perspective, violence against

police is a problem.

Intentional violence directed toward police is only one piece of the story of hazards in polic-

ing. Largely neglected from the literature are scholastic explorations of accidents by police officers,

which are a more common cause of officer injury than are felonious assaults on police. For example,

45 officers died resulting from accidents in the line of duty in 2018 (Federal Bureau of Investigation,

2018b). Policy aimed at reducing overall risk to officers would benefit from rigorous research on both

accidents and intentional violence on police. One limitation of the current literature, however, is that

the bulk of the literature is descriptive; rigorous study of violence against the police is rare, although

becoming more common in recent years. Another limitation is that it is focused primarily on intentional

Criminology & Public Policy. 2019;18:7–10. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/capp © 2019 American Society of Criminology 7