As though the risk is really all that high anyway.
It must be Stat Thursday:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr
For the 535,651 sworn LEOs, according to the FBI, 75 LEO were "killed feloniously" last year:
23 officers were killed during arrest situations.
15 officers died in ambush situations.
11 officers were slain during traffic pursuits or stops.
9 officers were killed during tactical situations (barricaded offender, hostage taking, high-risk entry, etc.).
7 officers were murdered answering disturbance calls.
5 officers were slain while investigating suspicious persons or circumstances.
1 officer was killed while conducting investigative activity (surveillance, search, interview, etc.).
1 officer was killed while transporting or maintaining custody of a prisoner.
--
That means the chance of being killed on the job by a bad guy was 16 per 100,000 officers
About the same rate as for death by influenza of the US population in 2011.
1/11 the rate of death from cancer
1/12 of the rate of death from heart disease
About the same as occupation fatality rates for "Mining" and "Transportation and warehousing", and 67% of the rate for "Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting"
--
Weapons
Of officers killed in 2011, most (63) were killed with firearms. Of these, 50 were killed with handguns.
5 officers had their weapons stolen.
3 officers were killed with their own weapons.
10 officers attempted to use their weapons; 17 officers fired their weapons.
21 officers were slain with firearms when they were 0-5 feet from the offenders.
...
Profile of alleged known assailants
In 2011, 77 alleged offenders were identified in connection with the 72 law enforcement officers feloniously killed. Of those offenders, the following characteristics are known:
The average age of the alleged offenders was 32 years old.
The average height was 5 feet 9 inches tall, and the average weight was 181 pounds.
75 of the alleged offenders were male; 2 were female.
43 of the alleged offenders were white, 29 were black, 2 were American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 1 was Asian/Pacific Islander. The race was not reported for 2 offenders.
Most (64) of the alleged offenders had prior criminal arrests.
17 of the alleged offenders were under judicial supervision at the time of the incidents.
8 of the alleged offenders were under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the fatal incidents.
7 of the alleged offenders were under the influence of alcohol or were intoxicated at the time of the fatal incidents.
--
Most were white, by a large margin.
So, let's go to assaults. One very telling stat:
"9.4 percent of officers who were attacked with firearms were injured."
And:
"4.0 percent of the officers were assaulted with firearms." (In context, that is 4% of the officers who were assaulted, were assaulted with a firearm, NOT 4% of all officers.)
Nearly 80% of assaults, and 28% of injuries were a result of "personal weapons (e.g., hands, fists, or feet)..." (Really, personal weapons? Guess we are pretty much all "armed".)
--
Unofficial reports (the FBI doesn't keep this data):
People killed by police with justification: 387
(
http://www.lvrj.com/news/deadly-for...otings-by-police-not-collected-134256308.html)
There are no stats on how many people were shot by police, or more specifically, how many were incorrectly shot by police who were too afraid to do their job safely - not to bash officers in general, but to point out that there are shootings which were not justifiable, and that training to shoot more people is a bad idea.