Bacon's Rebellion

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Assaults on Police Up Slightly in 2020

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by

James A. Bacon
in


by James A. Bacon

Last year was unprecedented for the number of street protests and anti-police rhetoric in Virginia. Police morale plummeted in the face of public hostility. How did the wave of unrest translate into physical danger for police?

According to the Crime in Virginia 2020 report, which  tracks the number of Virginia police officers killed and assaulted, there was an uptick in anti-police violence — to 1,973 assaults on officers in 2020 from 1,939 the previous year, an increase of 1.7%.

But the data does shows changes in circumstances. Although the number of officers injured in “civil disorders” was relatively trivial compared to all sources of assaults, it did triple year-over-year to 33. Protests have simmered down this year, so that number is likely to subside. Alarmingly, however, the number of law enforcement officers killed in “ambush” attacks doubled from seven to 15.

As a backdrop to the widely publicized story of the controversial April traffic stop of a Black army lieutenant by two policemen in the town of Windsor, the number of assaults on police during traffic stops and pursuits jumped 24% in 2020. In other words, motorists were increasingly likely to respond to traffic stops with violence. Little wonder that Virginia law enforcement officers are particularly wary about getting into violent altercations with motorists.

The vast majority of assaults on police are with “personal weapons” — hands, fists, feet, arms, teeth, etc. The number last year: 1,404. Police also were assailed with motor vehicles 71 times and firearms 62 times.

Five hundred and five injuries were reported. (Officers could sustain more than one injury.) The vast majority (458) were classified as minor. However, one assault was fatal. Three attacks resulted in broken bones, three rendered the officers unconscious, six in severe cuts, 11 in internal injuries. Twenty-four others were classified as “major.”

Unsurprisingly, the most dangerous time for police was Saturday night, a time when 239 assaults occurred. The least dangerous? The following morning. Only 84 assaults occurred during during the day on Sundays.

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15 responses to “Assaults on Police Up Slightly in 2020”

  1. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    It is entirely within the realm of existing technology to post process ALL of the audio and video recordings from dash cams, radio calls and chest cams. The analysis I envision would highlight interactions between the police and the public that are contentious / confrontational. Police management and the civilian review boards would be obliged to review all police interactions that reached a certain level of confrontation whether an assault occurred or a complaint was filed. Police management and/or the review board would then classify the “confrontational interaction” into 1) police escalated, 2) citizen escalated 3) third party escalation, etc.

    All escalated interactions should be in the public domain.

    I believe that restoring the trust between police and the community starts with an analysis of how escalations occur.

  2. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    It is entirely within the realm of existing technology to post process ALL of the audio and video recordings from dash cams, radio calls and chest cams. The analysis I envision would highlight interactions between the police and the public that are contentious / confrontational. Police management and the civilian review boards would be obliged to review all police interactions that reached a certain level of confrontation whether an assault occurred or a complaint was filed. Police management and/or the review board would then classify the “confrontational interaction” into 1) police escalated, 2) citizen escalated 3) third party escalation, etc.

    All escalated interactions should be in the public domain.

    I believe that restoring the trust between police and the community starts with an analysis of how escalations occur.

  3. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    We can quibble about statistics, but, when it comes down to it, whenever a cop walks up to a stopped vehicle on the side of the road, she does not know how the person inside is going to react. The same thing can be said for responding to a domestic call; emotions are high and guns are omnipresent.

    The State Police have modified their reporting on this issue. Remember our discussion over the past year about how throwing a bag of pretzels at a policemen could be charged as assaulting a law-enforcement officer? Apparently, DSP has taken that into account. The 2019 report showed the graph of this data with a bar showing 1,327 officers “assaulted” with “no apparent injury”. That “no apparent injury” bar is missing from the graph this year; only actual injuries are shown.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      … but, when it comes down to it, whenever a cop walks up to a stopped vehicle on the side of the road, the person inside doesn’t know how the cop is going to react either.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEMIUy_ySA4

      It’s parody of dozens of actual encounters.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        I’ll see your groundhog day parody and raise you an “instructional” video:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Didn’t help the guy in Minneapolis who politely told the officer he had a gun and was promptly killed.

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      are the really mixing killed or assaulted?

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Yes. One killed, the rest were non-fatal assaults. It’s in the article.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          thanks. I missed that. So virtually all in the report are assaults and just one killed for the time period across the state?

  4. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Still not in the top 10 of dangerous jobs, no matter how many times one (deleted “you” — meant nonspecific you plural, not James specifically ) says it. Still not an excuse to allow for unreasonable use of force.

    1. DJRippert Avatar
      DJRippert

      At no time did Jim say it was in the top 10 most dangerous jobs. At no time did Jim excuse the unreasonable use of force. Other than that, your comment was “spot on”.

      On the dangerousness of different jobs … I’m not sure saying “police officer” is the right measure. There are a lot of different kinds of “police officers”. There are forensic experts – physical, financial and cyber. There are firearms instructors, police academy staff, detectives. If the job were redefined to officers on patrol it might become a bit more dangerous. Crab fishing isn’t the crab industry. Nobody counts the people in supermarkets who stock crab products on shelves in the denominator of “crab industry danger”. Only the actual fishermen are counted. Should the officers who man the evidence rooms be counted in the same way that patrol officers are counted?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        It wasn’t a comment on the story, even though the content was on injury and death. It was just a reminder for those who would say, “But we must give them the benefit of the doubt because they have such a dangerous job.”

        Cops could reduce by half their on the job casualties by merely doing what they enforce — use the seatbelt! But then, they wouldn’t be in the top 20 of dangerous jobs. They have an agenda maybe?

    2. Matt Adams Avatar
      Matt Adams

      Strawmen noted, do you have anything of relevance to offer?

  5. Baconator with extra cheese Avatar
    Baconator with extra cheese

    Cmon man.
    Just get rid of the police and then you won’t have police being assaulted or killed.
    Plus the incarceration rate plummets.
    2 problems solved.
    You’re welcome.

  6. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    not sure combining killed with assaulted provides much clarity, though.

    but even with that – if one takes the total number of police in Va – maybe 20,000 and divide it by 133 (jurisdictions) – you get about 150 per.

    then if you take the total for responding to disturbances- 500 and divide by 133 you get maybe 4 if my math is right.

    seems kind of low…. makes me wonder about the stats a little.

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