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Situational Effects in Police Officer Assaults: The Case of Patrol Unit Size

NCJ Number
132268
Journal
Police Journal Volume: 63 Issue: 3 Dated: (July-September 1990) Pages: 260-271
Author(s)
L A Wilson; G G Brunk; C K Meyer
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Situational analysis techniques were used to determine if two-person police patrol units provided added safety for police officers.
Abstract
Data on police assaults were collected in the early 1970's from the south central part of the United States. Most assaults were minor, such as shoving or hitting, and only resulted in bruises or abrasions. The profile of the typical assailant was a young white male who was unemployed or held a low status job. Most assailants had been drinking or using drugs immediately prior to the assault. Rather than looking at the overall level of police safety, the study focused on the probability of injury to an assaulted police officer. Assaults were divided into two severity categories, serious offenses listed in the Uniform Crime Report and all other offenses. Data on 1,012 assaulted individuals showed that 42.9 percent were injured; 38.7 percent of police officers in two-person patrol units were injured during an assault, while 45.4 percent of police officers in one-person units were injured. The analysis also demonstrated that there was no simple relationship between the size of the city where an assault occurred and injury differential between one-person and two-person patrol units. When the suspect was the same race as the police officer, there was an insignificant 1.2 percent difference in injury from assaults between one-person and two- person patrol units. When the arrest was interracial, there was a significant 26.8-percent increase in the chance of injury to police officers in one-person patrol units. A major increase in injury probability occurred when others were present at the scene of an assault. 30 references, 2 notes, 4 tables, and 1 figure

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