This fact sheet highlights findings pertinent to injury trends and officer safety considerations.
During the year of data collection, a total of 1,295 injuries were reported. Reported injuries resulted in 5,938 days missed, with an average of 4.5 days missed per incident and an average rehabilitation period of 3.5 days. Based on a 10-hour work day, this total represents 59,380 hours of work time lost. Using a national average annual entry-level salary of $40,000, the approximate total cost for hours lost from injuries in this study was $1,211,352. Factoring in the added costs of overtime to cover assignments for injured officers, an estimated $1,817,028 was also incurred by the participating agencies. When these two figures are combined, excluding the extra costs of medical care, the estimated total added costs exceed $3,000,000. Additionally, the injury data collection focused on an array of other information, including specific injury type, characteristics of the injured officer, involvement of a suspect in the injury incident, training received, officer fitness attributes, and body weight. Additional information on vehicular crashes and the use of body armor was also obtained during the data collection to further inform the research effort.