Page:Law Enforcement Officers 1996.pdf/70

 SECTION II Law Enforcement Officers Assaulted An average of 13 of every 100 law enforcement officers in the Nation were assaulted in 1996. For the year, 46,695 line-of-duty assaults were reported by 7,808 agencies covering 63 percent of the total United States population. These agencies employed a total of 373,575 officers. Geographically, the Southern States registered the highest assault rate at 14 per 100 officers. The Midwestern States and the Western States each followed with 12 assaults per 100 officers, and the Northeastern States averaged 11 assaults per 100 officers. By population grouping, the assault rates ranged from 19 per 100 officers in cities of 100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants to 6 assaults per 100 officers in the rural counties. The 1996 assault rate of 12.5 per 100 officers dropped 7 percent below the 1995 rate of 13.5. It was 29 percent below the 1992 rate of 17.6 per 100 officers and 26 percent lower than the 1987 rate of 16.8. Injuries Assaults resulted in personal injury to 14,985 law enforcement officers in 1996. Though nearly the same as the 1995 rate of assaults with injury, the 1996 rate of 4 per 100 officers is lower than any other year since 1987. Among the geographic regions, the injury rate in the Northeast was 6 for every 100 officers. The Midwest recorded 4 assaults with

injury for every 100 officers, and the South and West each recorded 3 assaults with injury for every 100 officers. Within the population groups, law enforcement agencies in cities with over 250,000 inhabitants recorded the greatest assault injury rate, 6 per 100 officers. The lowest rate, 2 per 100 officers, was recorded in the rural counties. Weapons Eighty-three percent of assaults on law enforcement officers during 1996 were committed with personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.). Thirty-two percent of assaults with these weapons resulted in injuries. Firearms were used in 4 percent of all assaults; of the officers attacked with these weapons, 25 percent were injured. Two percent of the assaults were with knives or cutting instruments; 31 percent of these victims received injuries. Eleven percent of the officers were attacked with other dangerous weapons; 40 percent were injured. Circumstances Accounting for 3 of every 10 assaults, responding to disturbance calls (family quarrels, man with gun, bar fights, etc.) resulted in more officer assaults than any other circumstance. Twenty-three percent of the assault victims were attempting arrests when assaulted (2 percent by burglary suspects, 2 percent by robbery suspects, and the remainder

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