Detailed Assault Data

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The following information concerns duly sworn city, university and college, county, state, and tribal law enforcement officers who were assaulted and injured by firearms or knives/other cutting instruments in the line of duty in 2014. The law enforcement officers included in this report also met other criteria. At this time, federal officers are not included in these data. (For information about federal officers, see the Officers Feloniously Killed, Officers Accidentally Killed, and the Federal Officers Killed and Assaulted sections of this publication.)

While the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Program has collected aggregate assault data for more than 50 years, the program began collecting detailed data for assaults with injury more recently. The data collection for these assault incidents is similar to the comprehensive data collected about law enforcement officers feloniously killed in the line of duty. However, the detailed assault with injury data reflect only a subset of the assault incidents reported to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The detailed assault data were introduced in the 2013 publication with only 1 year of data. For 2014, several tables with 5 years of detailed assault data are also presented.

Overview

• In 2014, detailed information was received for 88 law enforcement officers who were injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments during assault incidents.

• Of the officers assaulted and injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments, 60 were employed by city police departments, including 21 who were members of law enforcement agencies in cities with 250,000 or more inhabitants.

• Detailed data in reference to line-of-duty assaults with injuries from firearms or knives/other cutting instruments were received from 24 states and Puerto Rico.

• By region, of the 88 reported victim officers who were injured as a result of assaults with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments, 35 were in the South, 25 in the West, 15 in the Midwest, 11 in the Northeast, and 2 officers in Puerto Rico.

More information about these topics is provided in Tables 80, 81, 96, 97, 102, 103, 109, 110, and 111.

Victim profile

• The average age of the officers who were assaulted and injured by firearms or knives/other cutting instruments in 2014 was 36 years old.

• The officers’ average length of law enforcement service was 10 years.

• Of the officers who were injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments in 2014, 84 were male and 3 were female. Gender was not reported for 1 victim officer.

• By race, 72 officers were white, 9 were black, and 2 were Asian/Pacific Islander. Race was not reported for 5 officers.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, and 92.

Circumstances

• 23 officers had responded to disturbance calls.

• 17 officers were investigating suspicious persons or circumstances.

• 11 officers were involved in arrest situations.

• 10 officers were conducting traffic pursuits or stops.

• 8 officers were participating in tactical situations (barricaded offender, hostage taking, high-risk entry, etc.).

• 6 officers were handling persons with mental illnesses.

• 5 officers were conducting investigative activities (surveillances, searches, interviews, etc.).

• 5 officers were involved in ambush (entrapment/premeditation) situations.

• 2 officers were injured in unprovoked attacks.

• 1 officer was handling, transporting, or maintaining custody of a prisoner.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 112, 113, 114, and 115.

Assignments

• 67 officers were on assigned vehicle patrol when they were assaulted and injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments.

• 3 of the officers were off duty, but acting in an official capacity, at the time of the attacks.

• 1 officer was on foot patrol.

• 17 officers were assigned to other duties, such as detectives, officers on special assignments, undercover officers, or officers on other types of assignments not listed.

• 70 on-duty officers were assisted at the time of the attacks.

• 15 on-duty officers were alone and unassisted at the time of the attacks.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 96, 97, 98, 99, 104, 105, 106, and 107.

Weapons

• 60 officers were assaulted and injured with firearms. Of these, 44 were injured with handguns.

• 3 officers were injured with their own weapons.

• 15 officers were injured with firearms when they were 0-5 feet from the offenders.

• 32 officers fired their own weapons.

• 12 officers attempted to fire their own weapons during the incident.

• 40 officers did not use or attempt to use their weapons during the incident.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 93, 94, 95, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, and 122.

Uniforms, body armor, and holsters

• 83 of the 88 officers injured in assaults by firearms or knives/other cutting instruments were wearing uniforms.

• 80 of the officers were wearing body armor. Seventy-nine of these officers were also wearing uniforms.

• 87 of the 88 victim officers were wearing holsters at the times of the incidents.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 119, 120, 121, and 122.

Months, days, and times of incidents

• More officers (11) were injured during assaults with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments that occurred in the month of March than in any other month in 2014.

• More officers (16) were injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments in assaults that occurred on Friday than on any other day of the week.

• 33 officers were injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments in assaults that happened between 12:01 a.m. and noon.

• 55 officers were injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments in assaults that happened between 12:01 p.m. and midnight.

More information about these topics is provided in Tables 82, 83, 84, 85, 98, and 99.

Profile of alleged known assailants

In 2014, 80 alleged offenders were identified in connection with the law enforcement officers assaulted and injured with firearms or knives/other cutting instruments. Of those offenders, the following characteristics are known:

• The average age of the alleged offenders was 31 years old.

• 75 of the alleged offenders were male, and 5 were female.

• 53 of the alleged offenders were white, 26 were black, and 1 was American Indian/Alaska Native.

• 73 of the alleged offenders had prior criminal arrests.

• 14 of the alleged offenders were under judicial supervision at the time of the incidents.

• 19 of the alleged offenders were under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the incidents.

• 8 of the alleged offenders were under the influence of alcohol or were intoxicated at the time of the incidents.

More information about this topic is provided in Tables 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, and 128.