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Old October 30, 2013, 07:56 AM   #1
HeadHunter
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Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2012

The FBI released Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2012 this week. It's not just firearms related but useful information for anyone to understand the dangers that police officers face.

Quote:
In total, 52,901 officers were assaulted while performing their duties in 2012. This was a rate of 10.2 per 100 sworn officers. So, in round figures, one out of 10 US law enforcement officers was assaulted in the line of duty during 2012.

A somber component of LEOKA is the Summaries of Officers Feloniously Killed This section provides a written account of each incident in which a law enforcement officer was killed in 2012. The Summaries are mandatory reading for those who are truly interested in the topic of officer survival.

An addition to LEOKA this year is a downloadable eBook that has all the Summaries for the previous five years, 2007-2011. It is available in epub format, which can be used in many readers or easily converted for those with a Kindle.
http://exm.nr/1adwh80
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Old October 31, 2013, 06:50 AM   #2
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Reopened for discussion
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Old October 31, 2013, 12:11 PM   #3
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A 52-year-old deputy sheriff with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed at 11:12 a.m. on March 6 while investigating robbery suspects. Moments after a couple was reported to have stolen items from a hotel and then struck an employee with their sport utility vehicle (SUV) while fleeing the scene, the veteran deputy, who had more than 9 years of law enforcement experience, located the SUV on a dead-end street. The deputy parked and exited her patrol vehicle and approached the suspects’ vehicle. She described the male driver and female passenger to dispatch and requested backup because the driver was not complying with her verbal commands. Video footage from the deputy’s patrol vehicle showed the driver opening and closing the door. As the deputy continued her approach, the driver slowly moved the SUV forward, ignoring the deputy’s commands to stop. When he did stop, the driver opened the door wider than before and asked the deputy if she was going to shoot him. With her weapon holstered, video showed the deputy approached the SUV, opened the door, and was met with a series of gunshots from a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, which appeared to come from the driver’s side. The deputy, who was wearing body armor, immediately fell to the ground with injuries to her front upper torso/chest, arms/hands, and a fatal wound to the front of her head. The driver shut the door and both suspects fled in the SUV. The couple stopped in a nearby neighborhood where the passenger allegedly committed a burglary in an occupied residence. Law enforcement officers found the suspects in their SUV parked at the residence where the burglary had just occurred. A vehicle pursuit followed, and both suspects were subsequently apprehended and arrested. The 22-year-old driver, who had a prior criminal record including violent crime, drug violations, police assault, and weapons violations, was charged with First-Degree Premeditated Murder of Law Enforcement Officer, Robbery, Flee/Attempt to Elude High Speed, Resisting Law Enforcement Officer with Violence, Possession of Weapon by Convicted Felon, Failure to Appear, and six counts of Probation Violation. The 19-year-old passenger, who also had a prior criminal record, was charged with First-Degree Felony Murder, Robbery with Deadly Weapon, and Warrant—Sale of Controlled Substance.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr...summaries-2012

I wonder why she didn't wait for backup. It's Brevard County which is kind of spread out- was backup that far away? Also, why approach the vehicle at all, when the suspect is suspected of committing a violent felony? It seems she would have a much better chance from the cover of her car. Of course, this is with 20/20 hindsight.

Not really tactics and training related, but it irks me that someone with a record like this "violent crime, drug violations, police assault, and weapons violations, " was out on the street.
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Old October 31, 2013, 07:56 PM   #4
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Just talking about statistics is not that useful to me. I find the Summaries in LEOKA to be the most useful part. As I tell every class of Police Officers I teach: "If you haven't read the Summaries, you haven't read the report, period!"
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Old December 19, 2013, 07:47 PM   #5
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Thank you for posting, I found it interesting reading.


What I find interesting is not the number of Felony firearm deaths, 4.2 percent of 48 would be approximately 2 deaths. It is the number of accidental deaths.

Of the 47 accidental deaths, 22 were car accidents, another 10 were officers struck by cars, and 6 more were motorcycle related. This seems like an unacceptable risk. I know nothing about officer training but can't help but wonder if more training ( or larger training budgets ) is needed, or some kind of new technology is needed to keep officers safe.
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Old December 19, 2013, 08:40 PM   #6
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Of the 47 accidental deaths, 22 were car accidents, another 10 were officers struck by cars, and 6 more were motorcycle related. This seems like an unacceptable risk. I know nothing about officer training but can't help but wonder if more training ( or larger training budgets ) is needed, or some kind of new technology is needed to keep officers safe.
Pursuit driving courses help, and they're fairly easy to set up if you've got a lot of traffic cones and a big area (think 10-12 acres) of asphalt. I've been through a couple of them, and they really help teach an officer what the car will and will not do. Properly done, the car will need new tires after two days of training.

Many smaller agencies don't have the money for that type of training. Which is a shame, because an officer spends more time driving than any other task. The use of computers in the cars initially caused a spike in traffic accidents, simply because the officers were using the computer when they should have been focusing on the road. Think texting and driving, with a full keyboard. Not a great idea.
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Old December 19, 2013, 11:24 PM   #7
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You know after my post I was remembering a well liked officer in my area who was recently killed after a dispatch call of an officer needs assistant. While I don't know the micro details I believe someone pulled out in front of him. IIRC. I'm sure he was traveling at a higher rate of speed and can understand the need for it, but can't help but wonder if he had the type of training your talking about PawPaw. It seems like it should be standard training for all officers since according to the fugures, it is the number one cause of death. In the instant I mentioned it may not have helped, but I'm sure any driving training would improve these figures.

Last edited by Hitthespot; December 19, 2013 at 11:33 PM.
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Old December 20, 2013, 06:15 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PawPaw
The use of computers in the cars initially caused a spike in traffic accidents, simply because the officers were using the computer when they should have been focusing on the road. Think texting and driving, with a full keyboard. Not a great idea.
Interestingly, my cousin and I were nearly sideswiped by an officer playing on his new computer a few years ago. Lucky for us, it was a four lane road with a wide shoulder.

I find it amazing that in all the United States, only 48 officers were feloniously killed last year. I would have assumed the number would be far higher.
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Old December 20, 2013, 08:58 AM   #9
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The other side of that coin is a short film: Release Us by Charles Shaw.

He documents that there have been more innocent people killed in the US by police forces than soldiers killed in combat: and he used the original 9/11 starting date.

Not too far from my house, . . . a couple years back, . . . an old granny lady who was hard of hearing was shot to death by a swat team that supposedly "was in fear of their lives", . . . just as one example.

I am not specifically a police basher, . . . I have a wonderful nephew on a Tx police force, . . . have had many good encounters with LEO's.

BUT, . . . the militarization of the forces, . . . additional powers they have been given, . . . scares me to no end.

May God bless,
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Old December 20, 2013, 11:55 AM   #10
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Quote:
BUT, . . . the militarization of the forces, . . . additional powers they have been given, . . . scares me to no end.
Me too, Dwight, and it's something I fight every day. Through education, through talking, through trying to remind folks that we work for the public. I've been a cop for over 30 years and I decry the militarization of the police as well.
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Old December 20, 2013, 11:08 PM   #11
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Quote:
I wonder why she didn't wait for backup. It's Brevard County which is kind of spread out- was backup that far away? Also, why approach the vehicle at all, when the suspect is suspected of committing a violent felony? It seems she would have a much better chance from the cover of her car. Of course, this is with 20/20 hindsight.

Not really tactics and training related, but it irks me that someone with a record like this "violent crime, drug violations, police assault, and weapons violations, " was out on the street.
Many rural Sheriff Departments do indeed have to wait a long time for back-up, even in a serious situation. Highway Patrol and Sheriff Deputies, even in somewhat populated areas, often have at least a 10 minute wait for back-up. I work with a guy who used to work in a County in Eastern NC. That County had 3 deputies on duty on Friday and Saturday nights. If you had a couple of guys on a domestic call and another hot call came out, then it may well be on you to take care of things until another agency can drive out to help. My co-worker responded to an armed and barricaded subject that had his in-laws as hostages one time. Him and one other guy got there and approached first (hearing him tell the story, they didn't exactly use SWAT tactics). The other guy knew the suspect and tried to talk him out. The deputy eventually got brave enough to stand in the doorway as a "show of trust." He took a load of 12 gauge buckshot to the chest. Back up was still over five minutes away. It's for this very reason that Deputies in a rural county are typically far more apt to use a healthy amount of force rather quickly. It's not that they walk around looking to pick a fight. It's more like they have a good while before the cavalry arrives if they get in trouble, so it's better to stay ahead of the power curve and strike first when trouble appears to be brewin'.

I also want to say that I agree with the last paragraph. I'm a cop and I can attest that there are too many chances given these days. Even if I make a rock-solid case, I can count on a plea to 1 felony for every 3 charges. Some prosecutors are good to go and on board, but many are too worried about clearing cases or get caught up in the "but he's still just a kid at 19, do we really want him to be a convicted felon?"... well, if I caught him red handed robbing someone over a crack deal gone bad then yeah, I do want him to be a convicted felon. Anyway, sorry about that rant but I had to get it out.
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Old December 21, 2013, 08:42 PM   #12
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I don't really understand how the police can be considered militarized if they are locally governed and do not act under the control of the Department of Defense. Sure police forces are quasi military organizations and always have been as it relates to structure, command, rank. Fighting crime is uniquely different than fighting the enemies of our Nation. Perhaps I am being too literal, I am certainly open to a clarification of the term as it is being used here.
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Old December 22, 2013, 08:41 AM   #13
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Fire, the term comes from the use of MRAPS, drones, and expanded use of SWAT teams armed with SBRs capable of burst fire, and such things.

5whiskey
Quote:
It's for this very reason that Deputies in a rural county are typically far more apt to use a healthy amount of force rather quickly. It's not that they walk around looking to pick a fight. It's more like they have a good while before the cavalry arrives if they get in trouble, so it's better to stay ahead of the power curve and strike first when trouble appears to be brewin'.
The first person I've met that gets it. I have a relative that worked in the Highway Patrol in a rural area. He said the next HP officer was usually about forty-five minutes away. A lot of rural deputies have told me of times they had a call and back up was non existent because the other officers were on calls. Don't get me started on what I've heard from comissioned park rangers.

The said thing about many officer deaths is that they come from a lack of thought on the officer's part. The death of a Lumberton, NC officer is a perfect example.

Quote:
Just after 11 a.m. on July 17, an off-duty master police officer with the Lumberton Police Department (LPD) was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a suspect who had outstanding warrants. The 32-year-old officer was driving his personal vehicle when he spotted the suspect riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle. The officer knew the individual was wanted for outstanding warrants. The officer called for assistance and followed the vehicle as it pulled into a convenience store. The driver entered the store, leaving the suspect sitting in the vehicle. The officer, who had more than 6 years of law enforcement experience, pulled up alongside the passenger side of the suspect’s vehicle just as an LPD patrol vehicle pulled behind the suspect’s vehicle at an angle. Both the off-duty officer and the responding officer exited their vehicles at the same time. As the responding officer began to approach from the back of the vehicle, he heard shots. The suspect had apparently produced a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and shot the victim officer in the side of the head, the neck/throat, and fatally in the front upper torso/chest. The responding officer called for backup, drew his weapon, and kept the suspect at gunpoint until additional officers arrived. The 27-year-old suspect knew the victim officer through a previous encounter with law enforcement and was on supervised release from previous criminal convictions at the time of the incident. He was taken into custody and charged with First-Degree Murder.
He wasn't even on duty. Honestly, with a patrol unit there he should have fell back and acted as back up. Instead he jumped out and tried to execute the arrest. He threw all of his training out the window.
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