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For Immediate Release
March
15, 2001
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Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
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Law
Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted
Law
Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 1999 (pdf)
Nationally, 42
law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the
line of duty in 1999, the lowest number in more than 35
years, according to the FBI. Statistics published in Law
Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 1999, released
today by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, indicate
that 19 fewer officers were slain in 1999 than in 1998.
Twenty-three
of the 42 slain law enforcement officers were employed by
city police departments, 13 by county police and sheriff's
offices, 5 by state agencies, and 1 by a federal agency.
Firearms were
used in 41 of the 42 deaths. Handguns were the murder weapon
in 25 of the killings by firearms, rifles in 11, and shotguns
in 5. Of the officers killed with firearms, 27 were wearing
body armor at the time of the incidents. Five officers were
slain with their own service weapons.
By region, 20
officers were murdered in the South, 11 in the West, 6 in
the Midwest, and 5 in the Northeast.
Twelve officers
were killed during arrest situations: 6 were serving arrest
warrants, 4 were trying to prevent robberies or apprehend
robbery suspects, and 2 were investigating drug-related
situations. Also, 8 officers were slain while enforcing
traffic laws, 7 while investigating suspicious persons or
circumstances, 7 while answering disturbance calls (1 of
which was a domestic disturbance call), 6 in ambush situations,
and 2 while handling prisoners.
Forty-nine suspects
have been identified in connection with the 42 deaths. Of
these suspects, 39 have been arrested by law enforcement
agencies, 5 were justifiably killed by people other than
the victim officers, and 5 committed suicide after killing
the officers.
Additionally,
65 officers were accidentally killed in 1999 while performing
official duties, a decrease of 16 deaths when compared to
the 81 accidental deaths in 1998. Automobile, motorcycle,
and aircraft accidents claimed the lives of 51 of the 65
officers. Nine officers were accidentally struck by vehicles,
3 were accidentally shot, 1 was killed in a fall, and 1
was killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident.
A total of 55,026
line-of-duty assaults were reported by 8,174 law enforcement
agencies covering over 72 percent of the total population
of the United States in 1999.
Of those line-of-duty
assaults, 81.5 percent were committed with personal weapons
such as hands, fists, feet, etc. and 30.5 percent of these
incidents resulted in injury. Firearms were used in 3.2
percent of all assaults; injuries resulted in 15.7 percent
of these incidents. Knives or cutting instruments were used
in 1.8 percent of assaults with 22.1 percent of these victims
sustaining injuries. Other dangerous weapons were used in
13.4 percent of the assaults on law enforcement officers,
and 28.4 percent of these officers were injured.
The complete
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS KILLED AND ASSAULTED, 1999,
is available on the FBI's Internet site at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr.htm
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