Felonious Killings of State Police and Highway Patrol Officers: A Descriptive and Comparative Evaluation

• NCJ Number: 162109
• Journal: American Journal of Police Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (1995) Pages: 89-105
• Author(s): T D Edwards
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

For the period 1985-1992, the data on the felonious killings of State police officers were analyzed, and certain trends, patterns, and characteristics of these killings were identified and compared to similar data for non-State police officer deaths.

Abstract

The FBI annual reports entitled "Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted" were the data sources for the study. For each annual report, the incidents that involved the deaths of officers from State police organizations were identified in both the narrative and statistical sections. The data for State police officers could be isolated for a variety of characteristics and circumstances (e.g., day of week, time, month, weapons, etc.), using the narrative accounts of each of the incidents. For each characteristic or circumstance for which data were available for the State police officers, the annual totals were calculated. The annual totals for State police officers could then be subtracted from the annual totals for all sworn officers, creating a data set for non-State police officers. For the period 1985-92, a total of 561 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed. Of this number, 42 (7.2 percent) were State police officers. The findings suggest that State police officers are feloniously killed in proportional numbers to non-State officers, with the recent downward trend in the number of deaths of State police officers mirroring the national downward trend for all officers. The South region had the greatest percentage of killings for State police officers. State police officers appear to be killed in demographic patterns similar to those of non-State police officers regarding time of day, day of week, and month. State police officers are most often feloniously killed while engaged in traffic stops, consistent with State police officers' assignments. Further research is warranted with regard to the gender or race of the officers; however, improved data collection and reporting methodology may be required before any meaningful analysis can be achieved. 1 table, 7 notes, and 36 references