Show Police killings and assaults must stop r By By Clarence M M. M Director rut FBI One more a tragic number of oC families across the land will ent enter r the holiday season mourning their loss of ot a slain law enforcement officer Cut down by criminal action these officers join the lengthy roll of oC others who have made the supreme sacrifice serving a public plagued by rampant lawlessness This deplorable loss of oC life liCe within our air ranks continues to call for Cor our grave concern and represents a most cr critical I challenge to our profession proCession Without question we must renew our efforts to counter this succession of brutal slayings and andl an other violent assaults against police officers The hazards of death and serious injury overshadow the entire law enforcement com com- community community community and the incidence of abusive and violent behavior toward officers is both widespread and frequent Data compiled by the FBI reveals that in 1974 1974 police assaults occurred at the rate of 15 attacks attacks attacks at at- tacks per pel officers Of these assaults six resulted in injury to the victim officers 39 percent of whom sustained injuries of a serious nature Experience has clearly shown that the menace of criminal attack is not confined to any particular area nor to any specific form of law enforcement en en- enforcement activity Last June for example two Special Agents of the FBI were ambushed ambushed am am- bushed and murdered during a fugitive investigation in rural South Dakota Three months month later late in the heart of New York City two policemen were shot down while conducting aroutine a aroutine aroutine routine automobile inspection thus raising to six the number of officers slain in that city since the beginning of the year The appalling number of law enforcement officers murdered in recent years must surely shroud this nation with a grimand grim grimand and and shameful distinction shameful shameful- distinction in inthe inthe inthe the eyes o 9 of the world While White parallel between countries es in r respect sp Cnn crim 1 conditions must be drawn with great caution a comparison of our disgraceful chronicle of police killings with the records of many other nations provides some some som striking con contrasts During the year three-year period 74 1972 law enforcement officers representing all levels of s government were feloniously slain in the United States StateS Over the same span of time only three officers throughout England Wales and Scotland fell victim to deadly criminal acts Although Italy recorded a substantial number 76 of ot such fatalities its it losses together with those of oC the other Western European nations of t France West Germany Spain Sweden and Norway amounted to littlemore little littlemore littlemore more than a third of ot our grisly total for Cor the three years It Is interesting to note too that in 1974 the combined population of oC these European countries more than equaled that of oUr own In further contrast Japan whose population population-In in 1974 was more than half as great as our own recorded only 13 police killings It is of course earnestly hoped that our extensive experience experience experience ex ex- with police assaults fatal and otherwise has taught us some basic lessons in law enforcement survival As a profession we have paid a terrible price for this instructive instructive instructive in in- in- in knowledge yet far too many of oC us continue to ignore at our great peril the lessons tobe to tobe tobe be learned With distressing frequency our fellow officers suffer the tragic consequences of handling in a carless earless manner so-called so routine assignments despite amply documented evidence that these situations can be deadly In 1973 and 1974 more officers were killed responding to disturbance calls than in any other type of activity We know too that arrest attempts have claimed a high number of police lives yet in too many instances in in- stances officers still approach these potentially dangerous situations in a than less-than-alert fashion Cashion There is obviously much that can scan be learned and utilized to safeguard ourselves from criminal violence Additional research and study in this critical area are clearly needed We must moreover endeavor to translate the knowledge developed into improved training and operational procedures In addition we must seek to apply more imaginatively science and technology toward the physical protection of our personnel Greater efforts must be made to inspire in the individual officer officers s r recruit recruit c uit and veteran J alike alike- a deep Jeep and positive commitment to survival safety Perhaps we can nev never r totally remove the danger of physical injury from the practice of law enforcement in this nation Yet we can strive in many obvious and promising ways to reduce this risk to an absolute minimum consistent with our role in a free and just society Let us us then look to the new year ear ahead with a firm resolve to make it a safer year for law enforcement a a year that will begin a steady decline in police killings and assaults |