{"id":43288,"date":"2018-05-01T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/?p=43288"},"modified":"2024-10-11T14:22:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T18:22:34","slug":"officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Officer Safety Corner: Saving More Officers\u2019 Lives: 30 Years of Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As much as the law enforcement profession and its leaders strive to prevent the line-of-duty deaths of law enforcement officers, this worthy goal will never be fully achieved because the circumstances under which officers die are rarely within their control. The best that can be done is to sift through the details of how those officers who already made the ultimate sacrifice perished and to identify trends that will help prevent future losses of life. The Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s (FBI\u2019s) annual\u00a0<em>Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA)<\/em> publication, from which most of the data herein are drawn, has contributed significantly to this commendable effort and remains a virtual treasure trove of vital information characterizing the myriad circumstances under which officers have died.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\">Felonious Deaths<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As Figure 1 demonstrates, over the 30-year period from 1987 to 2016, 3,708 U.S. law enforcement officers died in the line of duty\u201452 percent accidentally and 48 percent feloniously.<sup>1<\/sup>\u00a0Of the 11 years when felonious deaths exceeded accidental ones, 8 of them occurred between 1987 and 2010; 3 occurred in the last six years (2011\u20132016), which is a troubling trend that bears monitoring.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-43290 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig1-1024x555.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig1-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig1-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig1-768x416.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig1.jpg 1128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><em><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\">Felonious Deaths by Ambush<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n<p>Over these three decades, a total of 125 officers were ambushed via entrapment or premeditation.<sup>2<\/sup>\u00a0These ambushes steadily increased over each decade: 25 percent were murdered between 1987 and 1996; 31 percent, between 1997 and 2006; and 44 percent, between 2007 and 2016. Significantly, 17 law enforcement officers died in 2016, including 5 on\u00a0July 7, 2016, in Dallas, Texas, and 3 on July 17, 2016, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The next deadliest year for ambushes over the past 30 years was 2007, with nine ambush fatalities.<sup>3<\/sup><\/p>\n<h4><em><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\">Felonious Deaths by Officer Age and Years of Service<\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n<p>The average age of officers feloniously killed between 1987 and 1996 was 36; between 1997 and 2006, 37; between 2007 and 2016, 39. The average years of service of officers murdered between 1987 and 2006 was 10; between 2007 and 2016, it was 12.<sup>4<\/sup><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\"><em>Effect of Body Armor<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Body armor has spared well over 3,000 officers from death or serious injury since 1987.<sup>5<\/sup>\u00a0Regrettably, however, 63 percent of the officers feloniously killed between 1987 and 1996 were not wearing body armor when they were fatally wounded; the still unfortunately high figures dropped to 42 percent between 1997 and 2006 and to 30 percent between 2007 and 2016.<sup>6<\/sup>\u00a0While more officers are wearing more effective body armor more regularly, 824 officers feloniously murdered over three decades were not wearing body armor and were thus deprived of its life-saving benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Chiefs and sheriffs currently unfamiliar with the Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP), a U.S. Department of Justice initiative that, since 1999, has awarded a total of $430 million in federal funds to more than 13,000 jurisdictions for the purchase of well over 1 million vests, need to acquaint themselves with it. As long as agencies have promulgated a written \u201cmandatory wear\u201d policy for all on-duty uniformed law enforcement officers whom they lead, they can purchase (with up to 50 percent of the cost reimbursable) National Institute of Justice (NIJ)\u2013certified and NIJ-compliant body armor that withstands the threats that the employing agencies identify. Agencies can also receive preferential consideration if they provide body armor that is uniquely fitted to officers, including vests uniquely fitted to individual female law enforcement officers, resolving a longstanding problem with body armor.<sup>7<\/sup><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\">Accidental Deaths<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Like those feloniously murdered, the average age and years of service of law enforcement officers accidentally killed over three decades remained stagnant. The average age of officers accidentally killed between 1987 and 1996 was 36; between 1997 and 2016, 38. The average years of service of officers accidentally killed between 1987 and 1996 was 9; between 1997 and 2006, 10; and between 2007 and 2016, 11.<sup>8<\/sup>\u00a0An average of six more law enforcement officers per year were killed accidentally than feloniously over the past 30 years\u2014a total of 174 more officers.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\"><em>Traffic Incidents<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Of the 1,941 officers accidentally killed over the past 30 years, 64 percent died in vehicle crashes\u201486 percent in automobiles and 14 percent on motorcycles. Seventeen percent of those accidentally killed over the past three decades were struck by vehicles.<sup>9<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>As Figure 2 indicates, 62 percent of the 325 officers struck and killed by vehicles between 1987 and 2016 were directing traffic, assisting motorists, or performing other similar services, while 38 percent of them were engaged in a traffic stop, roadblock, or another enforcement action. These relative percentages held steady over the past 30 years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-43291 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig2-1024x580.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig2-1024x580.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig2-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig2-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig2.jpg 1082w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To the degree that primary traffic incidents are resolved effectively, efficiently, and safely, emergency responders will spend less time on highways. They will be exposed to fewer dangers, the likelihood of secondary crashes will decrease, and congestion will be reduced. However, the nature of law enforcement and other public safety disciplines necessarily requires emergency responders to be on roadways to attend to legitimate tasks, and their ability to be seen by motorists is perpetually problematic.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who works on any public road, including construction workers, firefighters and other emergency responders, flaggers, highway maintenance workers, law enforcement officers, media representatives, school crossing guards, and tow truck drivers, is required to wear\u2014day and night\u2014the high-visibility safety apparel mandated in the\u00a0Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways.<sup>10<\/sup>\u00a0Accordingly, law enforcement officers directing traffic; investigating crashes; or handling lane closures, obstructed roadways, and disasters are mandated to wear high-visibility safety apparel meeting either the Class 2 or 3 ANSI\/ISEA 107\u20132015 standard in the American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel and Headwear or the ANSI\/ISEA 207-2111 standard in the American National Standard for High-Visibility Public Safety Vests.<sup>11<\/sup>\u00a0However, those working on highways regrettably have not universally adhered to this mandate.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly visible law enforcement officers and other emergency responders who strive to spend as little time as they must on highways\u2014coupled with the adoption of traffic incident management principles and with increased public education and enforcement of the move-over laws that now have been enacted in all 50 states\u2014can mitigate the inherent dangers of working on roadways.<sup>12<\/sup> On average,\u00a0one U.S. law enforcement officer is struck and killed each month, clearly making this risk a priority that must be addressed.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\"><em>Seat Belt Usage<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Overall U.S. seat belt usage increased from about 11 percent in 1979\u20131982, to 89.7 percent in 2017.<sup>13<\/sup>\u00a0It is perplexing, indeed, that virtually each one of today\u2019s law enforcement officers grew up using seat belts, yet so many of the officers who die in automobile crashes chose not to wear them while on duty. The author\u2019s research indicates that 39 states and the District of Columbia do not exempt officers driving emergency vehicles from seat belt laws,\u00a07 states do exempt those officers from seat belt statutes, and 5 states conditionally exempt emergency vehicle drivers from seat belt laws. In addition\u00a0to the safety risks, officers who fail to wear their seat belts in compliance with their states\u2019 statute can seriously erode their agencies\u2019 community-police relations efforts when they enforce seat belt laws against civilians while violating that law themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Over a period of 29 years (1980\u20132008), 42 percent of the officers killed in passenger vehicle crashes were not wearing seat belts or utilizing any other restraint; 19 percent of those officers killed in passenger vehicle crashes were ejected from their vehicles.<sup>14<\/sup>\u00a0Officers\u2019 failure to buckle up appears to be seriously underreported: only 7 of the 213 officers who died between 2004 and 2008 were reportedly not wearing seat belts, yet 28 of them were ejected from their automobiles!<sup>15<\/sup>\u00a0Between 2011 and 2015, fatally injured officers were not wearing seat belts in at least 38 percent of collisions, and 49 percent of those unbelted officers died in single vehicle crashes.<sup>16<\/sup>\u00a0Between 2013 and 2016, 106 officers were killed in automobile crashes, 41 percent of whom were not wearing seat belts.<sup>17<\/sup>\u00a0It is far more important now than ever before to wear seat belts because today\u2019s technology operates under the assumption that\u00a0the seat belt is properly buckled when the airbag activates and, in the event it is not, serious injuries can result. A seat belt has made a positive difference to an officer\u2019s safety only when it was properly worn.<\/p>\n<p>The IACP Highway Safety Committee\u2019s Law Enforcement Stops and Safety Subcommittee (LESSS) produced the 23-minute roll call training video\u00a0<em>Is Today Your Day?<\/em>\u00a0in 2010. It was developed to promote officer safety and to reduce senseless officer deaths and injuries from the standpoint of the two groups most able to gain the attention of law enforcement officers: partners and families.<sup>18<\/sup>\u00a0The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training\u2019s (CalPOST\u2019s) SAFE [Situation-Appropriate, Focused, and Educated] Driving Campaign also addresses seat belt use in its 92-second \u201cDid You Know?\u2014\u2018Choices\u2019\u201d clip.<sup>19<\/sup>\u00a0This might be an excellent time to spend less than 30 minutes (re)watching these videos and reinforcing the importance of seat belt use among agencies\u2019 officers.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #102c4e;\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>There is promising news: The total number of line-of-duty deaths in 2017 preliminarily stands at 125, making it the least deadly year for U.S. law enforcement in nearly 60 years. The last time line-of-duty deaths in a single year were fewer was in 1958, when 115 officers died.<sup>20<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>However, perhaps, the preliminary 2017 line-of-duty death count could have been even lower if certain officer safety issues had been recognized and addressed many years ago, including those that follow:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Complacency:<\/strong>\u00a0Over the past three decades, the average age and years of service of officers killed feloniously and accidentally remained virtually unchanged. This suggests that midcareer officers might have become complacent. As three experienced FBI researchers aptly pointed out,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Because seasoned officers have experienced so many successful outcomes in the past, they begin to rely on experience and believe that they can read people and situations accurately. This causes them to walk a dangerous tightrope. They become complacent, thinking that they can shortcut a thorough examination of the incident. Complacency, however, is the worst enemy of a veteran officer.<\/em><sup>21<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><strong>Body Armor Usage:<\/strong>\u00a0While the number of officers more frequently wearing NIJ-certified body armor has increased, 47 percent of those officers killed feloniously over the past 30 years still were\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0wearing body armor when they made the ultimate sacrifice. Danger is not always predictable\u2014ambushes via entrapment and premeditation steadily increased each decade between 1987 and 2016, and criminals now employ far greater firepower. NIJ has developed minimum performance requirements, as well as methods by which to test ballistic resistance prior to certification of body armor against various threat levels; however, body armor must be worn to be effective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Seat Belt Usage:\u00a0<\/strong>Almost 50 percent of the officers accidentally killed were not wearing seat belts. Training and supervision can quickly reverse this life-threatening trend, as a number of U.S. law enforcement agencies already have proven over the past decade. Holding officers accountable for buckling up may well lessen serious injuries, reduce ejections, and save lives.<\/p>\n<p><strong>High-Visibility Safety Apparel Usage in Traffic Scenarios:<\/strong>\u00a0An average of one officer was struck and killed per month over the past 30 years. The three-to-two fatality ratio of directing traffic, assisting motorists, and related services to traffic stops, roadblocks, and other enforcement actions held during those three decades. Officers must be held accountable for adhering to the federal mandate to wear high-visibility safety apparel, and supervisors must ensure that officers comply with that provision for the sake of their very lives.<\/p>\n<p>Law enforcement leaders, trainers, and other influencers can never lose sight of the fact that each officer\u2019s death represents the needless and permanent loss to a spouse, parent, child, sibling, neighbor, and coworker. If appropriate actions are instituted, the next 30 years can potentially be safer than the last 30. Be safe out there!\u00a0<span style=\"color: #102c4e;\">&#x2666;<\/span><\/p>\n<aside class=\"pullout pullout--wide alignleft\"><\/p>\n<p>Chief\u00a0<strong>Richard J. Ashton<\/strong>\u00a0served as a sworn police officer in the state of Maryland for 34 years; for 24 of those years, he was a chief of police (16 years in the City of Frederick and 8 in the Town of University Park).<\/p>\n<p>Chief Ashton served as president of the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association and of the Police Chiefs\u2019 Association of Prince George\u2019s County, Maryland. In addition, from 2002 to 2013, Chief Ashton was the Grant\/Technical Management Manager for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, specializing in highway and officer safety issues.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Ashton may be contacted at <a href=\"mailto:tdash@frontier.com\">tdash@frontier.com<\/a>.<\/aside>\n<p><strong>Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/leoka\/1996\">Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) 1996<\/a><\/em>, tables 3 and 23; FBI,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/leoka\/2006\">LEOKA 2006<\/a><\/em>, tables 1 and 59; FBI,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/leoka\/2016\">LEOKA 2016<\/a><\/em>, tables 1 and 64.<br \/>\n<sup>2<\/sup>FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 1996<\/em>, table 15; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2006<\/em>, table 19; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2016<\/em>, table 23.<br \/>\n<sup>3<\/sup>FBI, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/leoka\/2016\/officers-feloniously-killed\/leoka-felonious-summaries-2016#TX\">Summaries of Officers Feloniously Killed<\/a>,\u201d in\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2016<\/em>.<br \/>\n<sup>4<\/sup>FBI,\u00a0LEOKA 1996, table 19; FBI,\u00a0LEOKA 2006, table 10; FBI,\u00a0LEOKA 2016, table 14.<br \/>\n<sup>5<\/sup>DuPont, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dupont.com\/products-and-services\/fabrics-fibers-nonwovens\/fibers\/press-releases\/iacp-kevlar-inducts-officers-survivors-club-2016.html\">IACP\/DuPont Kevlar Survivors\u2019 Club Inducts 27 Officers in 2016<\/a>,\u201d press release, January 17, 2017.<br \/>\n<sup>6<\/sup>FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 1996<\/em>, table 19; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2006<\/em>, table 35; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2016<\/em>, table 34.<br \/>\n<sup>7<\/sup>U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/ojp.gov\/bvpbasi\">Bulletproof Vest Partnership<\/a>.\u201d<br \/>\n<sup>8<\/sup>FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2006<\/em>, table 55; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2016<\/em>, table 58.<br \/>\n<sup>9<\/sup>FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 1996<\/em>, table 23; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2006<\/em>, table 59; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2016<\/em>, table 64.<br \/>\n<sup>10<\/sup>Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov\/pdfs\/2009r1r2\/part6.pdf\">Worker Safety Considerations<\/a>,\u201d \u00a7 6D.03, Pedestrian and Worker Safety, in\u00a0<em>Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways<\/em>, 2009 ed. (Revision Numbers 1 and 2, May 2012), 564-65; FHWA, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov\/reqdetails.asp?id=1065\">Official Rulings: Details for Request 6(09)-37<\/a>.\u201d<br \/>\n<sup>11<\/sup>The High-Visibility Public Safety Vest was purpose-designed: It is capable of visually signaling the presence of law enforcement and other public safety officers by contrasting the color and brightness of the vest against the ambient background of the officers\u2019 work environment and of including officers\u2019 requirements for breakaway shoulders, adjustable waists, pen or penlight openings, badge holders, microphone tabs, and side access to such items as pistols, handcuffs, and walkie-talkies.<br \/>\n<sup>12<\/sup>American Safety Commission, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.moveoverlaws.com\/\">Laws Now Enacted in All 50 States<\/a>,\u201d MoveOverLaws.com.<br \/>\n<sup>13<\/sup>Charles J. Kahane,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhtsa.gov\/sites\/nhtsa.gov\/files\/2015sae-kindelberger-livessaved.pdf#:~:text=Estimate%20numbers%20of%20lives%20saved%20by%20all%20vehicle\">Lives Saved by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Other Vehicle Safety Technologies, 1960-2002\u2014Passenger Cars and Light Trucks\u2014With a Review of 19 FMVSS and Their Effectiveness in Reducing Fatalities, Injuries, and Crashes<\/a><\/em>, October 2004, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) DOT HS 809 833, 88; \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov\/Api\/Public\/Publication\/812465\">Seat Belt Use in 2017\u2014Overall Results<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<em>Traffic Safety Facts<\/em>, December 2017, NHTSA DOT HS 812 465, 1.<br \/>\n<sup>14<\/sup>Eun Young Noh,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov\/Api\/Public\/ViewPublication\/811411\">Characteristics of Law Enforcement Officers\u2019 Fatalities in Motor Vehicle Crashes<\/a><\/em>, January 2011, NHTSA DOT HS 811 411, 24.<br \/>\n<sup>15<\/sup>Leslie Underwood (management and program analyst, Information Technology Unit, FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division), email to the author, April 9, 2009.<br \/>\n<sup>16<\/sup>National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nleomf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/2015-2019-Traffic-related-fatalities-Overall-Crash-Data.pdf#:~:text=Key%20Take-aways.%2061%%20of%20all%20the%20Traffic-related%20incidents\">Traffic-Related Fatalities Involving Law Enforcement Officers, Seat Belt Usage, 2011\u20132015<\/a>\u201d (presentation, September 1, 2016.)<br \/>\n<sup>17<\/sup>FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2013<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/leoka\/2013\/tables\/table_62_leos_ak_circumstance_at_scene_of_incident_by_type_of_assignment_2013.xls\">table 62<\/a>; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2014<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/leoka\/2014\/tables\/table_68_leos_ak_circumstance_at_scene_of_incident_by_type_of_assignment_2014.xls\">table 68<\/a>; FBI,\u00a0<em>LEOKA 2015<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ucr.fbi.gov\/leoka\/2015\/tables\/table_65_leos_ak_circumstance_at_scene_of_incident_by_type_of_assignment_2015.xls\">table 65<\/a>.<br \/>\n<sup>18<\/sup>Law Enforcement Stops and Safety Subcommittee,\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Lv_viNAylqc&amp;list=UUQ9UHQ1sRz3ee1pMsEpQ_JQ&amp;index=2&amp;feature=plcp\">Is Today Your Day?<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(IACP, 2010), video 22:46. This roll-call training video was undertaken in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the FHWA, the FBI\u2019s LEOKA program, and the National Sheriffs\u2019 Association; it was produced by the New York State Police.<br \/>\n<sup>19<\/sup>California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (CalPOST), \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/post.ca.gov\/\">Did You Know?\u2013\u2018Choices<\/a>,\u2019\u201d video 1:32.<br \/>\n<sup>20<\/sup>Jessica Rushing, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.odmp.org\/2018\/01\/odmp-report-2017-line-of-duty-deaths.html\">ODMP Report: 2017 Line of Duty Deaths Total Lowest Since 1958<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<em>The Officer Down Memorial Page<\/em>\u00a0(blog), January 9, 2018.<br \/>\n<sup>21<\/sup>Anthony J. Pinizzotto, Edward F. Davis, and Charles E. Miller III, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/leb.fbi.gov\/file-repository\/archives\/may08leb.pdf\/view\">Traffic Stops<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<em>FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin<\/em>\u00a077, no. 5 (May 2008), 8.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As much as the law enforcement profession and its leaders strive to prevent the line-of-duty deaths of law enforcement officers, this worthy goal will never be fully achieved because the circumstances under which officers die are rarely within their control. The best that can be done is to sift through the details of how those officers who already made the ultimate sacrifice perished and to identify trends that will help prevent future losses of life. The Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s (FBI\u2019s) annual\u00a0<em>Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA)<\/em> publication, from which most of the data herein are drawn, has contributed significantly to this commendable effort and remains a virtual treasure trove of vital information characterizing the myriad circumstances under which officers have died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-focus-officer-wellness"],"acf":{"post_author":"Richard J. Ashton, Chief (Ret.), Frederick, Maryland","main_category":"Officer Safety Corner","legacy_article_id":"","legacy_issue_id":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.4 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Officer Safety Corner: Saving More Officers\u2019 Lives: 30 Years of Lessons Learned - Police Chief Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Officer Safety Corner: Saving More Officers\u2019 Lives: 30 Years of Lessons Learned\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As much as the law enforcement profession and its leaders strive to prevent the line-of-duty deaths of law enforcement officers, this worthy goal will never be fully achieved because the circumstances under which officers die are rarely within their control. The best that can be done is to sift through the details of how those officers who already made the ultimate sacrifice perished and to identify trends that will help prevent future losses of life. The Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s (FBI\u2019s) annual\u00a0Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) publication, from which most of the data herein are drawn, has contributed significantly to this commendable effort and remains a virtual treasure trove of vital information characterizing the myriad circumstances under which officers have died.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Police Chief Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheIACP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-01T12:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-11T18:22:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"611\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheIACP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheIACP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Margaret White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret White\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/#\/schema\/person\/51da39bf2b152cf9aff96cdeed62d5a4\"},\"headline\":\"Officer Safety Corner: Saving More Officers\u2019 Lives: 30 Years of Lessons Learned\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-01T12:00:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-11T18:22:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/\"},\"wordCount\":2390,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/OSCMay2018Fig1-1024x555.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Columns\",\"Focus on Officer Wellness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.policechiefmagazine.org\/officer-safety-corner-saving-more-officers-lives\/\",\"name\":\"Officer Safety Corner: Saving More Officers\u2019 Lives: 30 Years of Lessons Learned - 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