SWAT Team - Is Police Work All That Dangerous?

A while back I became interested in the question of whether or not Police work is as dangerous as it is made out to be.

To find out I compared the number of police deaths by felony and accident provided by FBI reports for 2005 to vehicle (auto & motorcycle) fatalities provided by the NHTSA for 2004 (complete 2005 statistics were not available).

While any life lost is a terrible thing – the news is that our officers do not seem to be suffering an inordinate amount of fatalities. I am having trouble wording that last sentence – but from a statistical standpoint I think you understand what I am saying. My belief going in was that the risk of death would be much higher.

Jim Gordon of the American Police Hall of Fame (thanks for the help Jim) notes there are approximately 660,000 police officers employed in the United States. The statistics I found from the FBI were roughly 100,000 less than that figure, but a footnote to these stats says that not all departments report in. So, I've used the lower FBI number for conservatism's sake.

See tables below:


Traffic Fatalities YE 2004 (Source NHTSA)

Licensed Drivers YE 2004 198,889,000

Fatalities YE 2004 38,444

Percent Fatalities 0.02%



Police Fatalities YE 2005 (Source FBI)

a) Death By Felony


Registered Police Officers 561,844

Killed in the line of duty (50 by shooting) 55

Percent Fatalities 0.01%

Police Officers death by felony are only one half as likely as is an ordinary citizen dying while driving a vehicle


b) Death By Accident

Registered Police Officers 561,844

Killed by accidents (mostly traffic) 67

Percent Fatalities 0.01%


c) Death by Felony and Accident Combined


Registered Police Officers 561,844

Killed by accidents and felonies 122

Percent Fatalities 0.02%

Police Officers deaths are no more likely than that of an ordinary citizen dying while driving a vehicle.

According to the Bureau Of Labor Statistics being a cop is far from dangerous, statistically.

Scott Berridge, an Economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Publications and Special Studies tells me that "Neither police nor firefighters rank among the top 10 most dangerous jobs in relation to injuries or fatalities, see

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

page 4. Also see page 10, table 3 for data relating to protective services".

Cops Are Simply Not "Out-Gunned", Either.

The FBI statistics referenced above for 2005 also show literally no statistical evidence that our police forces are being “outgunned”. Only 2 of the 50 deaths by non-accidental firearm discharge ( there appears to be 4 incidents of officers fatally shooting themselves) are associated with calibers used by assault rifles – that is another unexpected piece of good news. By far the FBI statistics show that our officers outgun the bad guys by a huge margin. The vast majority of police fatalities by gunshot are from handguns of 9mm down through 22 caliber.

So, I guess this is good news - but far different than what the media would have us believe. It also kind of makes you wonder why we need so many SWAT teams armed with military weapons, armored vehicles, grenades and the like...............

Nick