Section III: federal law enforcement officers killed and assaulted

Uniform Crime Reports: Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, Annual, 2001

Methodology

This section presents data about law enforcement officers who are killed or assaulted in the line of duty and who are employed by the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Justice, and Treasury; the U.S. Capitol Police; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Within these 5 federal entities are 11 agencies, bureaus, or services, which employ the majority of the personnel who are responsible for protecting governmental officials and enforcing and investigating violations of federal laws. The national UCR Program annually contacts these departments and requests information on the officers who were killed or assaulted in the line of duty.

The assault tabulations regarding federal officers in this section differ slightly from the assault figures compiled for local and state law enforcement officers previously addressed in this publication. Regardless of the extent or even the absence of personal injury, all reports of assaults or threats to assault are included in the compilations. Additionally, the circumstance categories are tailored to depict the unique duties performed by federal law enforcement personnel.

Overview

In 2001, federal law enforcement agencies reported 592 assaults on their officers, 2 of which resulted in death. Personal injuries were sustained by 126 federal officers. (See Tables 44 and 45.)

The greatest percentage of officers assaulted, 64.0 percent, were employed by the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior officers accounted for 17.6 percent. The Department of the Treasury employed 14.2 percent of the victims, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service employed 3.2 percent, and the remaining 1.0 percent worked for the U.S. Capitol Police. (See Table 43.)

Offenders used personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.) in 30.7 percent of the assaults on federal law enforcement officers in 2001. Vehicles were used as weapons in 11.8 percent of the assaults, and firearms in 7.8 percent. Blunt objects were used as weapons in 4.7 percent of the attacks, and knives in less than one percent of the incidents. Other types of weapons were used in 32.9 percent of the assaults, and 11.3 percent of the assaults were threats. (Based on Table 47.)

The majority of federal law enforcement officers, 43.6 percent, were on patrol or guard duty when assaulted, 18.1 percent were conducting investigations or searches at the time of their attacks, and 14.7 percent of the victims were making arrests or serving summonseses. Officers assigned to protection duty accounted for 10.0 percent of the assault total; officers with custody of prisoners, 3.4 percent of assault victims; and those on office duty, 3.0 percent. Officers assigned to court duty accounted for 0.5 percent. Officers performing other duties accounted for the remaining 6.8 percent of assault victims. (Based on Table 48.)

Data submitted by federal agencies for 2001 showed that the 332 officers assaulted in the West accounted for 58.9 percent of the total. The South reported 132 victims, or 23.4 percent. The Northeast had 35 victims and the Midwest 21, which accounted for 6.2 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. Assaults on federal law enforcement officers assigned in U.S. Territories and foreign assignments made up 7.8 percent of the total victims. Incident locales were not available for the 28 assaulted officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). (Based on Table 50.)

In 2001, a total of 498 assailants were identified in connection with the assaults on 592 federal law enforcement officers. (See Table 43.) Of the 498 known assailants, disposition information was provided for 194. One hundred twenty-five individuals were charged with assaulting a federal law enforcement officer: 35.2 percent of the 125 were found guilty, and 50.4 percent were awaiting trial at the time of publication. Additionally, 8 of the known assailants for whom disposition data were available were fugitives. (Based on Table 49.)

Five-Year Totals

Data for 1997 through 2001 revealed that 3,028 federal officers were victims of assaults. During that 5-year period, 11 federal officers were killed. (See Table 45.) One agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was killed in 1997, and 3 INS agents lost their lives in 1998. The Bureau of Indian Affairs lost 1 police officer in 1997, and 2 U.S. Capitol police officers were killed in 1998. One National Park Service ranger was slain in 1998 and another in 1999. In 2001, both an FBI agent and a U.S. Secret Service officer were killed in conjunction with the attacks of September 11.

Summary of Assaults by Department

Department of the Interior (DOI)

The DOI reported 104 officer assaults in 2001. All of the assault victims were employed by the National Park Service, and 23 experienced injuries as a result of the attacks. Forty-eight of the victims were attacked with personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.). Eighteen were attacked with vehicles, 2 with knives or cutting instruments, 1 with a firearm, and 1 with a blunt object. Other types of weapons were used in the attacks on 6 officers, and 28 victims were threatened. (See Tables 44 and 47.)