As crime nationwide nears a 20-year ebb, a recent New York Times report highlights a disturbing trend to the contrary: The murder of police officers is on the rise. The Times report reflects statistics recently released by the Department of Justice. The new DOJ data confirms that 72 officers were killed by perpetrators in 2011. This is a 25 percent increase from the previous year and a 75 percent increase from 2008. According to data compiled by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the deaths in 2011 mark the first time more officers were killed by suspects than died in car accidents. This toll was the highest in nearly two decades, excluding those who died in the September 11 attacks and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
Most alarming for residents of rural states like Arkansas, the reports note that a majority (60) of officers killed worked in smaller cities. This runs counter to the prevalent myth that big cities are inherently more dangerous than smaller ones. With a little perspective, this makes sense. Rural officers are more apt to work alone, with back-up that is more distant and lower in number.
Relatedly, James W. McMahon, chief of staff for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, observes that economically driven cutbacks (i.e. reductions in police force size) can have unintended lethal consequences. “A lot of these killings aren’t happening in major urban areas,” he said. ” One of the concerns we are looking at is that a number of officers are being laid off or furloughed or not replaced.”
As the Times report reflects, cities with entrenched crime epidemics often bear the brunt of these reductions. Camden, NJ, long reputed as one of America’s most violent communities, provides a chilling example. The police chief in Camden, J. Scott Thomson, whose force of 400 was cut by nearly half last year because of financing issues, said that having fewer officers on the street “makes it that much more difficult to create an environment in which criminals do not feel as emboldened to assault another person, let alone a law enforcement officer.”
In short, the criminals can tell when there are fewer eyes watching. As such, the move to pull back resources from the police becomes tantamount to water rationing during a firestorm. Following a noticeable uptick of killings in early 2011, U. S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. asked federal authorities to partner with local police departments to devise some solutions for the mounting problem.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Every year since 1937 the FBI has published a report, “Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted” (LEOKA), to provide information about the officers who were killed, feloniously or accidentally, and those officers who were assaulted while performing their duties. The FBI collects these data through its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. As part of this effort, the FBI paid for a study conducted by John Jay College that found in many of the murders the officers were trying to arrest or stop a suspect who had previously been arrested for a violent crime.
This revelation prompted the FBI to change the information it provides local police departments. Starting in 2012, when police officers stop a car and call its license plate into the FBI’s database, they will be told whether the owner of the vehicle has a violent history. Through the first three months of this year, the number of police fatalities has dropped, though it is unclear why.
While we can be thankful that no Pine Bluff police officers have been killed in many years, that provides no guarantee for the future. Moreover, as we watch our local murder rate continue to climb, we are aware of the mounting danger our officers face. Until such time as we get our crime under control, we hope our officers’ luck continues to hold.