How do law enforcement officers die? Most of you are probably thinking you know. Unless you’ve been sleeping for the last decade, you’ve heard it. We’ve all heard it. Guns and cars, with collisions leading the way for the past several years. I fear that we have somehow minimized these collisions by calling them “accidents” and throwing our hands in the air as if we can’t do anything. Whatever we are doing, it’s not working. More officers died in 2007 in vehicle collisions than any other year. This despite more agencies adding training, laws changing to curb police pursuits and the safety of cars at an all time high.
What are we doing wrong?
While we know how we die, the question is much more than vehicle collisions. Anyone who has read what I write or especially heard me speak knows that I do not shy away from placing blame square on the shoulders of police chiefs and sheriffs for the failure to train their officers. It’s inexcusable to deny officers training on a regular basis in an area that causes more injuries, deaths and civil litigation than anything else in law enforcement. With that said, there is an untold story. It is a phenomenon I have seen in recent years and one that I have not heard discussed
While it is easy to blame the leaders of an organization have we looked at the actual behavior of the officers? As I travel across the country, I hear a common theme from trainers: “We can’t get our officers to take this seriously.” I must admit that for every story I hear about a department leader not caring, I hear another story about an officer’s apathy. Maybe it has become routine to wreck a car. We think it’s part of doing business, until at least one of our own dies. Maybe that turns into a tragedy or a terrible crash. Maybe all of that is a bunch of crap. If our leaders won’t protect us, maybe we should do what it takes to protect ourselves. We must be accountable for our own actions, and that starts with drilling down to the real reason we are dying.
The research
Each line-of-duty death that occurred in 2007 with the cause listed as a vehicle collision or vehicle pursuit was researched with a variety of factors in mind. Some of the incidents had more information readily available than others. Every effort was made to ensure that the research was as accurate as possible. This was not a scientific study, but regardless, certain patterns did emerge.
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