California Law Enforcement Officers Murdered, 1978

• NCJ Number: 75007
• Journal: Journal of California Law Enforcement Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: (1979) Pages: 179-182
• Author(s): C B Moorman; R Wemmer
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article analyzes the murders of California peace officers during 1978.

Abstract

The data was obtained through interviews with surviving support officers and investigating officers and through an examination of after-action reports. While an average of 11 officers were killed annually between 1973 and 1977, 12 died in 1978. The analysis revealed that no significant patterns were established for the day of the week or the month of the year, although only two of the murders occurred during daylight hours. The deadliest time periods were 1900 to 2000 hours (three deaths), 0100 to 0200 (two deaths), and 0300 to 0400 (two deaths). The size of the agency and the area policed -- urban versus rural -- were unrelated to officer safety; eight officers were murdered in the presence of partners or members of an arrest team. By rank, the victims included 10 patrolmen or deputies, 1 detective, and 1 police detective sergeant. Furthermore, victims averaged 34.2 years in age (range, 26 to 51 years) and 8.5 years in experience (range, 2 to 21 years). Seven officers had 2 to 5 years experience. Revolvers were used in 10 slayings, and in 5 of these, the victim's or the partner's weapon was used. Among the murder suspects were 11 males (5 whites, 3 Mexicans, 2 blacks, and 1 American Indian) Ranging in age from 17 to 35 years. The analysis resulted in a number of learning points: tactical situations involving multiple personnel should be examined, patrol is the most hazardous assignment, and training programs must be developed to combat the attitudinal changes that accompany increase age and time on the job. In addition, officers must realize that physical fitness is important to their job, that sound decisionmaking and solid tactics are as important as aggressiveness, and that personal weapons must be protected from suspects' use. A data table and footnote reference are included.