Officers Assaulted
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The following information concerns duly sworn city, university and college, county, state,
and tribal law enforcement officers who were assaulted in the line of duty in 2007 and
met certain other criteria.
Overview
- The FBI collected assault data from 10,856 law enforcement agencies that
employed 517,875 officers in 2007. These officers provided service to over 231
million persons (76.8 percent of the Nation’s population). (Based on Table 65.)
- Law enforcement agencies reported that 59,201 officers were assaulted while
performing their duties.
- The rate of officer assaults in 2007 was 11.4 per 100 sworn officers.
More information about these topics is provided in Tables 65, 66, 70, and 71.
Injuries
- 26.1 percent of the 59,201 officers assaulted sustained injuries.
- 27.9 percent of the officers who were attacked with personal weapons (e.g., hands,
fists, or feet) suffered injuries.
- 11.4 percent of the officers who were assaulted with knives or other cutting
instruments were injured.
- 9.4 percent of officers who were attacked with firearms experienced injuries.
- 22.2 percent of officers who were attacked with other dangerous weapons were injured.
More information about this topic is provided in Tables 65, 66, and 70.
Times of incidents
- For the ninth consecutive year, the largest percentage of assaults on officers
(15.2 percent) happened from 12:01 a.m. to 2 a.m.
- The smallest percentage of assaults on officers (2.4 percent) occurred during the
hours of 6:01 a.m. to 8 a.m.
More information about this topic is provided in Table 67.
Circumstances
- Of all officers who were assaulted in 2007, the largest percentage (31.7 percent)
were responding to disturbance calls (family quarrels, bar fights, etc.).
- 15.1 percent of the officers assaulted were attempting other arrests, the
circumstance with the second-highest percentage.
- 12.4 percent of the officers assaulted were handling or transporting prisoners, the
circumstance with the third-highest percentage..
More information about this topic is provided in Tables 68, 69, and 73.
Clearances
Law enforcement agencies can clear offenses by arrests or exceptional means
(i.e., when law enforcement can identify the perpetrator, but are unable to make an
arrest due to circumstances beyond their control, such as the death or suicide of the
subject).
- In 2007, law enforcement agencies cleared 89.7 percent of the 59,201 reported
assaults on law enforcement officers.
- By type of circumstance, agencies cleared the greatest percentage (91.3) of
assaults on officers who were attempting other arrests.
More information about this topic is provided in Table 68.
Assignments
- 63.0 percent of the officers who were assaulted were assigned to 1-officer vehicle
patrols.
- 17.3 percent of the officers who were assaulted were assigned to 2-officer vehicle
patrols.
- 5.1 percent of officers who were assaulted were assigned to detective duties or
special assignments.
- 14.6 percent of officers were assigned to other duties when they were assaulted in
the line of duty.
(Based on Table 69.)
Weapons
- In 2007, the majority of officers who were assaulted in the line of duty
(80.2 percent) were attacked with personal weapons.
- 3.7 percent of the officers were assaulted with firearms.
- 1.7 percent of the officers were assaulted with knives or other cutting instruments.
- 14.4 percent of the officers were assaulted with other dangerous weapons.
More information about this topic is provided in Tables 70, 71, 72, and 73.