The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | October 2021
FBI Releases 2020 Statistics for Law Enforcement Officers Assaulted in the Line of Duty
According to statistics reported to the FBI , 60,105 law enforcement officers were assaulted while performing their duties in 2020 . These assaults were reported to the FBI by 9,895 law enforcement agencies . Based on these reports , there were 4,071 more officers assaulted in 2020 than the 56,034 assaults reported in 2019 . Data regarding these assaults were released today in the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted ( LEOKA ) portion of the FBI ’ s
Law Enforcement Data Explorer .
Injuries and Weapons
· Of the 60,105 officers who were assaulted in 2020 , 18,568 ( 30.9 %) sustained injuries .
· 44,421 officers were assaulted with personal weapons ( e . g ., hands , fists , or feet ); 25.8 % of these officers were injured .
· 2,744 officers were assaulted with firearms ; 6.1 % of these officers were injured .
· 1,180 officers were assaulted with knives or other cutting instruments ; 9.7 % of these officers were injured .
· The remaining 11,760 officers were assaulted with other types of dangerous weapons ; 16.8 % of these officers were injured . Circumstances
Of all officers who were assaulted in 2020 , agencies reported officers were involved in these circumstances at the scenes of the assaults :
· Responding to disturbance calls such as family quarrels or bar fights ( 29.6 %)
· Attempting other arrests ( 16.1 %)
· Handling , transporting , or maintaining custody of prisoners ( 12.6 %)
· Investigating suspicious persons or circumstances ( 8.8 %)
· Traffic pursuits or stops ( 8.4 %)
· Civil disorder , such as mass disobedience or riots ( 4.1 %)
· Handling persons with mental illness ( 3.9 %)
· Burglaries in progress or pursuing burglary suspects ( 1.3 %)
· Ambush situations ( 0.8 %)
· Robberies in progress or pursuing robbery suspects ( 0.8 %)
Data and statistics concerning officers feloniously killed , officers accidentally killed , and federal officers killed and / or assaulted in 2020 were previously released to the
Law Enforcement Data Explorer in May 2021 .
Officer Thomas P . Haughton Memorial Plaza Re-Dedication
The Officer Thomas P . Haughton Memorial Plaza Rededication service took place on Sunday October 17 , 2021 . Officer Haughton died in a car crash while on duty on November 24 , 1995 . To commemorate the 25th anniversary of his passing the Garwood PBA redesigned the area around the flagpole at Borough Hall to include a seating area and a more prominent location for the memorial stone . Because of COVID-19 restrictions , the in-person ceremony was delayed nearly a year . In attendance at the event were Mayor Todisco , Chief Wright , members of the Garwood Police Department as well as officers from surrounding agencies and surviving family of Officer Haughton ( Sister ) Maureen Clifford and ( Aunt ) Hannah Barone .
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