Resistance-Related Injuries Among Law Enforcement Officers: Addressing the Empirical Gap

Details

• Personal Author:
  Grieco J ; Gwilliam M ; Konda S ; Montgomery BS ; Rojek J ; Tiesman, Hope M.
• Description:
  Introduction: Officers can be unintentionally injured during officer-suspect interactions, and these injuries are often not coded as assaults. This article defines and enumerates injuries that officers sustain while chasing, detaining, arresting, or pursuing suspects. These are termed resistance-related injuries. Methods: Data on law enforcement officer injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Occupational Supplement from 2012 to 2017. Resistance-related injuries were defined using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, version 2.01. Injury rates were calculated using denominators from the Current Population Survey. Negative binomial regression was used to analyze temporal trends. Data were analyzed in 2019. Results: Between 2012 and 2017, an estimated 303,500 officers were treated in U.S. emergency departments for nonfatal injuries for an overall injury rate of 568 per 10,000 full-time equivalents. Emergency department-treated injuries significantly decreased by 3.8% annually during this time period (p<0.0001). The leading causes of injury were assaults and violent acts (48%), transportation incidents (11%), and falls (11%). Of the total injuries, more than half were resistance-related (53%). A total of 88% of violence-related injuries, nearly 50% of falls, and 31% of overexertion injuries were considered resistance related. Conclusions: More than half of officers' nonfatal injuries occurred when they were interacting, detaining, or pursuing a suspect. This highlights the need to code nonfatal injuries in a consistent and meaningful way that informs police policy and practice. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Epidemiology Law Enforcement Occupational Health Safety Transportation Violence
• Keywords:
  Falls Injuries Law Enforcement Officer Law Enforcement Workers LEO Overexertion Surveillance
• ISSN:
  0749-3797
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Michigan ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  59
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061499
• Citation:
  Am J Prev Med 2020 Dec; 59(6):e231-e238
• Contact Point Address:
  Hope M. Tiesman, Analysis and Field Evaluations Branch, Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Road M/S 1811, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  htiesman@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Preventive Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8a59899489ebf94bbdd0f1fef3b0b34764991de78ffa6a8d84a8b74c411f909cf365539a6d29006ccbce4bbd38a8d6c9962a92bd743e1fb20991a549ecf927c3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225015/cdc_225015_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 219.70 KB ]