Introduction
The study “In the Line of Duty: A Descriptive Analysis of Police Assaults and Accidents,” was conducted by Steven G. Brandl in 1994 investigate the workload demands of Milwaukee and the injuries of these officers. The main rationale for conducting this research was to document both the nature and degree of injuries to police officers concerning shift assignments, retirement, and disability. Furthermore, the results were to be used to negotiate pay between the Milwaukee Police Association and the City. This was achieved by comparing accidental incidents which lead to either injury or death to the felonious occurrences in terms of distribution, seriousness, and frequency.
Review of the Research
The study provided a comprehensive literature review of the felonious murder and assault of police officers across the country. The 1992 FBI reports indicated a declining trend of the felonious murder of officers during work. 713 police officers were between 193 and 1992. Besides, the FBI reports indicated that a large number of homicides (42 percent) occur during the arrest while 18 percent happen during disturbance calls such as family quarrels and bar fights. Most killing (85 percent) of police killings are done by firearms and between 4.00 P.M and middle of the night. Lastly, almost 65 percent of the police killed are from the lowest cadre such as deputy sheriff and patrol officer (FBI, 1992) .
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On nonfatal criminal assault, the FBI reports showed that trend in this act is static and ranges between 15.5 and 17.5 reports per 100 officers since 1983 (Brandl, 1994, p. 251) . Like the felonious murder, non-lethal assault happens more during disturbance situations (32 percent) and followed closely by arrest attempts (32percent), prisoner handling (24 percent), and traffic chases and halts (9 percent) (FBI, 1992) . In addition, the reports indicated that 81 percent of the assaults were inflicted by personal weapons while 14 percent and 6 percent of the assaults were inflicted by other weapons and firearms respectively. Lastly, homicide officers were largely assaulted (79 percent) followed by officers from other ranks (14 percent) and detectives (7 percent) (Brandl, 1994) .
Compared to criminal murder and assault, the literature review reveals limited research on accidental injuries and deaths in law enforcement. In fact, the figures offered by FBI on officers killed are inconsistent. A short time frame of between 1989 and 1991 reveals that between 52 and 79 police officers were killed each year starting from 193. However, the research of Fridell and Pate (1993) which employed a relatively long time indicated that there was an increase in the number of officers accidentally killed. Moreover, a limited analysis of Lester (1981), which compared the rates of felonious and accidental deaths related to injuries and illness during policing duties, established that the death rates were little compared to illness and injury rates. The above literature review indicates a lack of detailed analysis of accidental injuries reported in law enforcement.
From the above literature, Brandl (1994) developed the following hypothesis:
There are similarities between homicide and assault incidences, that is, they happen during the evening and late afternoon hours and have a higher probability of occurring in environments where arrest ar either attempted or made.
Substantial number of assaults lead to relatively less serious injuries
The number of officers killed feloniously and accidentally are approximately the same each year.
Methods
Methods
The research adopted a case study approach based on secondary data collected from existing reports on documented incidents of injuries and deaths among police officers. The reports filed by law enforcement officers were used as a primary source of data. The study used data coding method to analyze the collected information.
Designs
The study was based on a longitudinal mixed research design that focused on accident incidents documented between the 1 st of January 1992 and 31 st of December 1993. This gave a population of N=2,353 cases of police injuries and deaths. After selection and elimination of certain reports that included civilian workers and sergeant officers, the research remained with a sample of 2,073 incidents that entailed only detectives and police officers. With a mixed design, the study was able to collect both textual and narrative descriptions of the accidents and numerical figures (Vanderstoep & Johnston, 2009).
Variables
The police officers were required to file a Report of Accident form based on their employment information, demographic characteristics; injury descriptions together with medical attention offered an explanation of conditions of the occurrence and time and date of the accident. The variables in this study included two types of accident (intended and suspected, the time at which the accident occurred, medical attention offered, the task that led to the accident, description of most serious injury, and the raw number of days the officer was off duty because of the accident (Brandl, 1994) .
Results and Relevant Findings
The analysis of qualitative information gave descriptive statistics in the form of cross-tabulations and frequency distributions. Various findings were established from this descriptive analysis. First, accidents took the larger part of the incidents (92 percent) while 59.9 percent did not happen from suspicious actions. On the other hand, felonious assaults comprised to utmost 10 percent of the entire incidents. Secondly, a large percent of the incidents (39.4 percent) were caused by arresting or controlling of suspects while 67.8 percent of the incidents occurred during apprehending of fleeing suspects and investigations. Thirdly, laceration/abrasion/puncture led to the most injuries (22.4 percent). Fourthly, 43.7 percent (largest proportion) of the incidents were reported between 4.01 evening and midnight. Fifthly, a large number of the incidents (53.7 percent) were serious and required medical attention.
Discussions
Methodology Issues or Problems
The use of secondary information does not offer immediate experience or accounts of accidents and injuries. The research could have carried out an extensive interview of the sampled police officers in order to gather primary insights and views on the subject matter.
The validity of the Study
There is a possibility that the documented injuries may be underrepresented or overrepresented. Besides, there may be cases of personal (researcher) bias because the researcher was significantly at the mercy of preliminary data collectors and documenters of the accident reports. Therefore, there are possibilities of systematic bias (Vanderstoep & Johnston, 2009) .
Ethical Considerations
The researcher failed to address the ethical concern of handling sensitive information on the human subject. Brandl (1994) did not describe how the paper would uphold the private or sensitive information offered by the police officers.
Policy Implications
The results of this study provide insights that must be integrated into the deployment of officers in various duties such as arresting and apprehending suspects and handling of domestic disturbances. Due to the high rate of assaults and injuries from these situations, the police association should increase the number of officers deployed, offer extensive training to the officers, and provide detailed and accurate information to avoid injuries. Besides, the police sector needs to introduce programs related to stress management, performance evaluation, job design, retirement, disability, and shift assignments to establish a conducive working environment.
Scientific Relevance
Scientifically, this study conceptualized risks and dangers related to police work in terms of homicides and assaults. Through scientific analysis, the research has established that accidents pose a greater threat to the safety of police compared to felonious incidents.
Social Importance
This article shades substantial light on the dangers found in the police occupation in the form of assaults, murder, and accidental deaths and injuries. The study shows the dangers experienced and expected during law enforcement. The results show the essence of designing a safe working environment for police officers to prevent task-related injuries from both accidents and assaults. This, in turn, will enhance the emotional and psychological being of the law enforcement officers through lowering burnout and stress.
Conclusions
Like other occupations, policing activities are also accompanied with felonious and accidental injuries and deaths. Therefore, the research of Brandl (1994) has revealed the trend of these incidents and how they affect the working of police officers. Most of these injuries happen between late evening and midnight hours and are related to tasks such as apprehending and controlling suspects, handling domestic disturbances. This implies that policymakers in the law enforcement sector need to establish programs and initiatives that will reduce police injuries not only in these situations but also during all operations. This can be achieved through increasing number of police conducting a specific task, extensive training, and provision of detailed information of the situation before deploying the officers.
References
Brandl, S. G. (1994). In the line of Duty: A descriptive analysis of police assaults and accidents. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
FBI. (1992). Law enforcement officers killed and injured. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office.
Fridell, L., & Pate, A. (1993). Death on patrol: Killings of American law enforcement officers. In R. Dunham, & G. Alpert, Critical issues in policing. Prospects Height, II: Waveland Press.
Lester, D. (1981). Occuptional injuries, illness and fatalities in police officers. Police Chief, 48 (10), 63.
Vanderstoep, S., & Johnston, D. (2009). Research methods of everyday life: Blending qualitative and quantitative approaches. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
