NCJ Number
225079
Journal
Homicide Studies Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2008 Pages: 350-380
Date Published
November 2008
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This study examined correlations between economic and social features of counties and police homicides in contiguous U.S. States.
Abstract
Local police were significantly more likely to be murdered in counties with low income levels and high levels of poverty and unemployment. Police murders were also more likely to occur in counties with larger percentages of African-Americans, persons aged 25 to 34, and non-sheriff agencies. The risk for police homicides was significantly lower in urbanized counties and in counties in the Northeast. Police officers were at approximately equal risk for being killed in the South, West, or Midwest. Police murders were found to be unrelated to population mobility, divorce, or violent-crime levels. Data for the dependent variable--the number of law enforcement officers murdered in the line of duty between 1990 and 2000 (n=544)--were obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Each officer killing was matched to data on the victim officer’s employing agency in the 1996 Directory of Law Enforcement Agencies. Using the appropriate State and county codes in the directory, researchers then aggregated the number of officer murders, the number of full-time equivalent sworn employees in 1996, and the number of types of law enforcement agencies in 1996 to counties and county equivalents. The dependent variable was the number of officers killed feloniously for 1990-2000. Independent county variables were number of sheriff’s agencies in the county in 1996, population size and density, percentage of the population living in urban areas, percentage of the population below the official poverty level, the percentage of the population unemployed, median household income, percentage of the population divorced, percentage living in the same house as 5 years earlier, percentage of the population ages 25-34, percentage of non-Hispanic Black population, region, and the average number of violent crimes for 1994-1996. 3 tables, 3 figures, 18 notes, and 10 references