Cop killers and their victims.

Each year, a number of law enforcement officers lose their lives during the performance of their duties. Since 1945, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has gathered data on officers feloniously killed in the line of duty and has released the information in its annual publication, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted. But, the detailed data did not answer one very important question, "Why?"

Recognizing the limitations of its data on officers killed, UCR initiated a research project to conduct an indepth analysis of the incidents that resulted in law enforcement officers' deaths. The report on this project, Killed in the Line of Duty, presents extensive information on the victim officers, the offenders, and the incidents that brought the victim officer and the offender together in what has been termed a "deadly mix."(1)

THE STUDY

UCR staff members conducted the study over roughly a 3-year period, during which time they examined 51 distinct cases. These incidents, which resulted in the deaths of 54 law enforcement officers and involved 50 offenders, were selected using criteria based on data of all officers feloniously killed between 1975 and 1985. This ensured that the information concerning the killings was still relevant to current law enforcement practices.

Researchers retrieved pertinent information from law enforcement and correctional records. They also conducted interviews of the victim officers' peers and supervisors, as well as the investigators originally assigned to the homicides and other officers who had knowledge of the events. As a final measure, the offenders themselves were interviewed after UCR investigators collected and reviewed all of the relevant materials.(2)

RESULTS

An incident that results in the death of a law enforcement officer involves several factors--two or more individuals (offender and victim officer), their life experiences and perceptions, and the circumstances (situations) that brought them together. The study investigated these factors individually and integratively, drawing on the psychology of the offender, the behavior of the law enforcement officer, and the circumstances that lead to the loss of life.

Offender

A demographic description of the offenders shows that they are predominately male, young average age 26), white, single, and high school educated. The findings of this study suggest that there is no single profile of a person who kills a law enforcement officer. Furthermore, the overall social backgrounds of the offenders generally reflect average socioeconomic status but considerable verbal and physical abuse during childhood.

A majority of offenders in this study were identified as having some personality disorder. The antisocial and dependent personality types were the most frequently diagnosed personality disorders.(3)

While a very small number of offenders had no previous criminal record, including a history of drugs or weapons offenses, researchers found larceny, burglary, or robbery to be prevalent in the majority of the offenders' self-reported criminal histories. In addition, nearly one-half of the offenders stated that they murdered or attempted to murder someone prior to killing the officer. Approximately 20 percent stated that they assaulted an officer or resisted arrest prior to the incident in which they killed an officer.

The study also revealed other outside factors. In particular, 74 percent of those interviewed reported that they regularly carried a handgun and that they started carrying a handgun at age 18. Of the 54 law enforcement officers killed, 72 percent were victims of handgun wounds.

Another factor involved drug and/or alcohol use. Over three-quarters of the killers stated that they were engaged in drug or alcohol activity at the time of the killings.

Interviewers also asked the offenders what, in their opinion, could have prevented the officers' deaths. Almost 50 percent of the killers admitted that there was nothing the victims could have done to prevent their deaths after the initial confrontation. Nearly 10 percent of the offenders believed that the officers could have acted more "professionally," while in three cases, the offenders stated that the deaths would not have occurred if the victims had identified themselves as law enforcement officers.

The offenders never offered race as a contributing factor in the deaths, although 15 of the 51 incidents were cross-racial. However, seven offenders, all males who killed male officers, stated that they would not have murdered had the officer been female.

Victim Officer

In the cases examined, the victim officers worked in local, State, and Federal agencies. The demographic attributes of the victim officers in this study include young (average age 34), predominantly male, white, married, and high school educated.

While the demographic description of the victim officers is similar to the offenders' demographic description, there are also obvious differences. The victims were, on the average, 8 years older, more educated with higher percentages having completed both high school and college, and more likely to be married.

The study victims averaged 8 years of law enforcement service, and none had less than 1 year of experience. Eight of 10 officers were assigned to vehicle patrol at the time of their deaths, and 70 percent were assigned to single-officer vehicles. Slightly over 80 percent of the victims were in uniform when they were killed.

Researchers also examined the general behavioral descriptions of the victims. Since the original purpose of the study was not to analyze the victims' personalities, no systematic approach to develop a victim behavioral profile was made.

However, early in the study, it became apparent that the officers' peers and supervisors used similar behavioral characteristics to describe the victims. The most salient behavioral descriptors characterizing these officers appeared to be their good-natured demeanor and conservative use of physical force, as compared to other law enforcement officers in similar situations. They were also perceived as being well-liked by the community and the department, friendly to everyone, "laid back," and "easy going."

Work performance also arose as another factor to consider during the survey. Some evidence from this study indicates that an officer's receiving a decrease in performance rating may be one of several early signs of the potential for a law enforcement killing.

Ten victims, who received successful or better than successful ratings over several years, received lower assessments just prior to their deaths. Researchers could not determine the specific areas of the officers' performance that resulted in the lower ratings. Some departments were reluctant to release information from personnel files, while others commented verbally on the contents of personnel records. In one case, however, the reviewing official mentioned that the slain officer declined in two areas of the evaluation--failure to maintain the department's weight guidelines and failure to wear a department-issued protective vest.(4)

Situations

This study revealed that a preponderance of law enforcement officers' deaths occurs in the South, although researchers could not determine an adequate explanation for this phenomenon. However, researchers found that the type of assignment, the circumstances at the scene of the encounter, the weapons used, and the environment in which these events occurred all played a role in the final outcome.

Analysis of the information indicates that the officers were most often slain during arrest/ crime-in-progress situations; on streets, highways, or in parking lots; at the same location where the encounter took place, and within 5 miles of the offender's residence. In addition, the fewest officers were killed between 6:01 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. when only 15 percent of the incidents occurred. Approximately 30 percent of the deaths occurred during each of the other three 6-hour time periods (12:01 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., 12:01 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., and 6:01 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.).

Integrative Perspective

Using the integrative approach to examine each of these cases, the study identified several specific areas where law enforcement training and procedures may have played a role in the eventual outcome of the incident. From this integrative approach, two major categories of procedural and training issues emerged--approach to vehicles and suspects and control of persons and/or situations--which may have had a role in the eventual outcome of the incidents.

Approach to vehicles and suspects takes into account, among other issues, off-duty performance, facing a drawn gun, and traffic stops. Control of persons and/or situations includes, among other issues, weapon retention, use of protective body armor, thorough searches, handcuff use, and team concept.

Officers' improper approaches and lack of control of both situations and individuals were found to be likely contributors to the killings. Some of the killers appear to have evaluated a series of actions or inactions of the officer before considering an assault.

CONCLUSION

The study offers the law enforcement community information that can assist individual agencies in addressing survival training needs. Hopefully, the information gleaned can be used to assist officers in protecting themselves as they battle the criminal elements who show no respect for the law.

Endnotes

(1) Killed in the Line of Duty, September 1992, published by the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Federal Bureau of investigation. Washington, DC. Those interested in obtaining the published report should write to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Washington, DC 20535. (2) To accommodate offender interviews, researchers limited the incidents selected for the study to those whose offenders had exhausted all appeal processes. (3) A chapter in the published report presents several psychological approaches to questioning and interrogating the antisocial and dependent personality types. (4) UCR Program staff members are currently conducting another study to examine cases in which law enforcement officers survived serious assaults that involved a firearm or cutting instrument.