Understanding Firearms Assaults against Law Enforcement Officers in the United States

July 4, 2024

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The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services recently published Understanding Firearms Assaults against Law Enforcement Officers in the United States. The report aims to address “primary safety concerns in law enforcement: (1) injuries and deaths among officers and (2) premeditated and unprovoked ambushes of officers.”

According to the report, there were 1,926 law enforcement agencies that reported at least one firearms assault against an officer from 2007 to 2011. More specifically, there were 1,014 firearms assaults that resulted in injuries to officers, 10,149 firearms assaults against officers that did not result in injuries, and 148 deaths attributable to firearms use against officers from 2007 to 2011 among the 1,926 agencies.

The report, which originated as a framework for discussion in a 2014 Officer Safety and Wellness (OSW) group roundtable, is divided into three sections. The first section summarizes the OSW roundtable discussion; the second section is a literature review looking at 50 years of attempts to better understand the situational factors that lead to officers being assault; and the third section presents methods and results of the authors’ research.

To view the report, click here.