Murders Of Officers Continue At High Levels, Body Armor Failure Is Rare
The FBI reported murders of officers in 2005 continued at high levels, although the 55 felonious deaths were well below the 21st Century peak of 70 in 2001.
Officers were wearing body armor in 30 of the 50 deaths due to firearms. Most wounds occurred in parts of the body other than the torso. Of nine deaths from torso wounds, only one occurred because of equipment failure. The assault weapon was a shotgun.
For officers dying from torso wounds, bullets entered through armholes, side panels and immediately above or below the area covered by a vest.
Deadly assaults on officers in the current year are continuing at the pace of a year ago.
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Most officers fall victim to firearms, the FBI said, noting five deaths from vehicles and 50 from guns. But two-thirds of the murders occurred during vehicle patrol.
In analyzing the relationship of body armor in the fatalities, the FBI found only one death due to vest failure in 2005 compared to four in 2004.
Law enforcement agencies have been upgrading body armor since the widespread publicity about vest failure in the death of a Forest Hills, Pa., police officer in 2003.
The National Institute of Justice adopted new minimum standards for bullet-resistant vests last year.
Most of the assailants had records of criminal violence and several were gang members. Gang assaults on police in California have become an increasing problem.
Apparently due to their criminal histories and knowledge of police procedures, these assailants fired below, above or to the side of the vests.
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Of the identified assailants, 41 were under the age of 35 and 23 were youths between the ages of 17 and 25. Several had prior criminal records for assaulting officers and most had convictions for violent drug crimes.