Officer Deaths & Assaults Reach Records
Officer Deaths & Assaults Reach Records
Leaders Need To Know That It's Much Worse Than The Data Shows
Last week the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program released Officers Killed and Assaulted in the Line of Duty, 2023 Special Report and the results should wake up every law enforcement leader in America.
The Time To Train Is Now!
In the last three years, there were more officers feloniously killed than in any other consecutive three-year period in the past 20 years.
2023 marked the highest officer assault rate in the past decade and the highest assault and injury rate by firearms in the last decade.
More troubling is the lack of clarity in those numbers. As I pointed out in the last article, the data from this annual report represented 97% of the population prior to 2020 and this year’s data omitted almost 3000 law enforcement agencies including Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and many others.
So while the profession has set a decade record on assaults against officers, that record was broken using fewer agencies participating in the data. Furthermore, not every assault is being reported by agencies. A study by the NIH found that in a five year period, over 60,000 police officers were treated in an emergency room for injuries with the leading cause being assault. Considering that very few officers assaulted actually go to the emergency room combined with the lack of participating agencies in the UCR Reporting, we know that the record assault rate reached this year is much higher.
Predictable is Preventable
The only thing more frustrating about this new record is how surprised some appeared to be when the report was released. It didn’t take a genius to understand that it has been getting worse year after year and that is exactly what the data showed. If we don’t change, this year and the next, and the next, will be worse.
No More Excuses
We need to stop blaming the politicians, the courts, the media, the activists, and anyone else other than us. Law enforcement knows how to turn this around and it’s called training. It’s likely not the training you get every year or that '‘check the box’ training mandated by your legislature and definitely not that free DOJ training but there is a way to reverse course on this deadly trend.
Seconds For Survival
For the last decade I’ve been teaching a seminar called “Seconds For Survival.” The course is designed to reduce the reactionary gap that is leading to deadly consequences reflected in the FBI Data. In that decade, I have increasingly heard from attendees that they had never heard of the concepts discussed and I’m convinced this is playing a role in the new “record” that the profession doesn't need.
I recently decided that this course was so important, that it needed to be given to the masses and to do that, I have partnered with Blue To Gold Training. You can host the course for Blue To Gold for free. They will sell seats and provide your agency with free seats along the way.
Today, more than ever, you have the opportunity to provide the training needed in your area to turn back this troubling trend. Previously, I discussed the “Epidemic of Hesitation” in law enforcement and I am doing everything I can to stop it. I’m hopeful that this new opportunity, provided by Blue To Gold, will enable you to take charge of this issue in a way that can save lives.
Contact myself or Blue To Gold Training today and let’s make sure your personnel are prepared.
Dr. Travis Yates retired as a commander with a large municipal police department after 30 years of service. He is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies.” His risk management and leadership seminars have been taught to thousands of professionals across the world. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy with a Doctorate Degree in Strategic Leadership and the CEO of the Courageous Police Leadership Alliance.
Shameful Democrats foster this environment. They want to remove restraints to their own evil behaviors.
And we all have the whining Left to thank for increasing the risks every time a cop gets a call. When your government “leaders” do everything they can to restrain the police, it infects an entire society. Let’s keep increasing what a cop CAN’T do to stop crime, then bitch about cops not doing enough to stop crime. Yeah, that makes sense.
I’m not here to argue every police officer is a hero, or an angel. However, if you’re going to attack a cop, you’re obviously capable of doing the same to anyone else, and if you’re going to kill a law enforcement official, you need to simply be erased from society.
Today, I’m my neighborhood, a 23-year old officer responding to a domestic violence call is being buried outside Cleveland. Unfortunately, the societal crumb who killed him is also dead. I say unfortunately because he killed himself. Personally, I think he should have died by a sniper’s headshot.
Stay safe.