Wednesday, December 5, 2007

FBI Report

An FBI report entitled Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers reveals some sobering facts about violent criminals in America. The 5-year study reveals that the typical violent predators (orcs) may have a skill set and a mindset superior to many, if not most law enforcement officers.

Although the FBI will not release the report to the general public, you may view a synopsis of one chapter at the Force Science News (all quotes are from this article). The synopsis tells about the level of weapons training among orcs:

Nearly 40% of the offenders had some type of formal firearms training, primarily from the military. More than 80% “regularly practiced with handguns, averaging 23 practice sessions a year,” the study reports, usually in informal settings like trash dumps, rural woods, back yards and “street corners in known drug-trafficking areas.”

By way of contrast, the article points out, "victim officers in the study averaged just 14 hours of sidearm training and 2.5 qualifications per year. " The article makes the point that the officers did not die because they were "outgunned" as the media like to assert. The average orc does not select a weapon on any other criterion than what's available.

The study indicates that orcs outdistance officers in actual combat experience, as well:

More than 40% of the offenders had been involved in actual shooting confrontations before they feloniously assaulted an officer. Ten of these “street combat veterans,” all from “inner-city, drug-trafficking environments,” had taken part in 5 or more “criminal firefight experiences” in their lifetime.

One reported that he was 14 when he was first shot on the street, “about 18 before a cop shot me.” Another said getting shot was a pivotal experience “because I made up my mind no one was gonna shoot me again.”

Again in contrast, only 8 of the 50 LEO victims had participated in a prior shooting; 1 had been involved in 2 previously, another in 3. Seven of the 8 had killed offenders.

Orcs tend to prefer instinctive point-shooting to actual sight alignment in a gunfight, and the FBI report indicates that it works for them.

More often than the officers they attacked, offenders delivered at least some rounds on target in their encounters. Nearly 70% of assailants were successful in that regard with handguns, compared to about 40% of the victim officers, the study found.

My final quote from the Force Science News summary of the FBI report gives you an idea of the violent predators' mindset compared to that of the officers they shot.

Thirty-six of the 50 officers in the study had “experienced hazardous situations where they had the legal authority” to use deadly force “but chose not to shoot.” They averaged 4 such prior incidents before the encounters that the researchers investigated. “It appeared clear that none of these officers were willing to use deadly force against an offender if other options were available,” the researchers concluded.

The offenders were of a different mind-set entirely. In fact, Davis said the study team “did not realize how cold blooded the younger generation of offender is. They have been exposed to killing after killing, they fully expect to get killed and they don’t hesitate to shoot anybody, including a police officer. They can go from riding down the street saying what a beautiful day it is to killing in the next instant.”

So, righteous warrior, how's your skill set coming along? How about your mindset? I hope you feel motivated. I know I do.

1 comment:

Bruce said...

I wish we had the ideal society:

Where all the citizen were armed with their weapon of choice, and the "peace-officer" was studiously unarmed--his "armament" was the populace; his power was "the law".

Maybe someday...