Experience of police who are attacked and killed

Today, I want to examine officer victims experience level to determine if certain LEOs are in a higher risk category than others. I’m hamstrung today just as I was yesterday. What I CAN tell you is the percentage of assaults on one type of officer versus another. Unfortunately, I’m not able to determine what percentage one type of officer is to the total population of LEOs. Ok, enough whining from me.

Are rookies in greater danger than experienced LEOs? Absolutely not. LEOs with less than 1 year of experience make up a measly 3.5% in 2007 and less than 3% over the last ten years. During two years (2002 & 2006) there were zero LEOs with less than a year of experience feloniously killed. Stick with me and we’ll try to make sense of this together.

Who’s in the greatest risk? LEOs with 1-5 years of experience were assaulted and killed more than any other category, followed closely by LEOs with 6-10 years experience (and they were tied in 2007). Officers with 1-5 years of experience account for 30% of all LEOs killed in 2007 and 34% during the last ten years. Officers with 6-10 years of experience also account for 30% in 2007 and 25% over the last ten years. In fact during the last ten years, the average experience level of ALL 549 LEOs killed was 10 years of LEO experience.

For the sake of completeness, here is the breakdown of all the data:

•Less than 1 year of experience – 3.5% (2007)
•1-5 years of experience – 30%
•6-10 years of experience – 30%
•11-15 years of experience – 12%
•16-20 years of experience – 11%
•21-25 years of experience – 9%
•26-30 years of experience – 5%
Conclusions? Well, one possible scenario is that most officers employed by LEO departments nationwide have an average of ten years experience, which explains why the average LEO feloniously killed also has ten years experience.

But lets not stop our analysis there. Common sense (and most veteran LEOs) would submit that a rookie is in greater danger than more experienced LEOs. Why don’t they account for a higher percentage of fatalities? Try this on. Rookies are straight out of the academy and have their training fresh in their minds. They haven’t learned any bad habits from laziness or complacency. They’re younger and in better shape than other LEOs.

Now before anyone gets all butt-hurt because you think I’m calling you out of shape, let me give you another statistic. The average LEO killed in 2007 was 5′11″ tall and weighed 197 pounds. That’s a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 27. Anything over 25 is considered overweight. It may hurt some feelings, but there is volumes of research that prove that subjects with good fitness levels outperform over-weight/out of shape subjects in stressful situations.

Besides the over-weight factor, the data seems to indicate some reason for officers with years of LEO experience being assaulted and killed more than twice as often as others. The root cause may be hard to accept, but it’s still the truth.

Lack of training, lack of focus (warrior mindset), and complacency. LEOs with a few years on the job have gained enough “experience” to make them believe that they have a firm understanding of their duties, and then they get bored, get distracted, get lazy. They stop respecting the inherent danger of their job, and this lack of respect causes them to cut corners both in training and on the street.

To prevent skills atrophy, LEOs in the 1-5 and 6-10 year categories should be prioritized for refresher skills training with a focus on fundamental skills. Sexy doesn’t win gunfights. Your LEOs should be the absolute best at doing the little things right. Weapons handling, marksmanship, use of force, and mindset will keep you alive. And a solid PT program keeps sand outta your gears.

Departments should weigh the benefit of spending money for new widgets for their carbines, or spending money on training and having an LEO who is an expert with the weapons they currently employ. As we continue to analyze LEO deaths in 2007, none of the deaths would have been avoided with cooler gear, but almost all of them could have been prevented with solid fundamental skills training.

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