This is a volatile time to be a police officer. The headlines are wrought with negative stories, public support seems to be at an all-time low, and there is no end in sight for the financial issues that drive an endless stream of changes to retirement and health care benefits.
Officers are tired of it. By all accounts, morale among police officers across the country is at the lowest many can remember. Despite the long history of generations of families willing to serve, many officers today say they would not encourage a son or daughter to enter the field. The reasons most cited are just what you would suspect given the contemporary issues facing police: the lack of public support for the profession and media and political cynicism.
Burnout is described as “a state of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause, a way of life, or relationship that failed to produce expected rewards.” It is safe to say that many in our ranks — particularly those who have been around a while — are indeed burned out. This is important because we all know that complacency kills. It is almost always cited as the most prevalent contributing factor in law enforcement assaults and deaths.
The average age and experience of those killed in the line of duty — 40 years old and 12 years on — is consistent with the average numbers associated with all-too-common burnout. Given the increase in violence against police officers and the diminished level of support across the nation, the increase in burnout could be a disaster in the making.
What Can We Do?
While these are certainly weighty issues that should be addressed by leaders at all levels of government, there are small things that can be done at the department level to promote sound safety practices. Perhaps the most basic among them is underscoring the importance of wearing body armor every shift — the practice of daily wear. It’s mandated by policy in most departments but more importantly, it works.
The number of officers killed in the line of duty is increasing. One of the primary causes of death for those killed in the line of duty continues to be gunfire. Meanwhile, it is estimated that the use of body armor has saved as many as 3,000 officers in the past 30 years.
Given those sobering facts, it is incumbent upon departments, fellow officers, and family members alike to encourage — even demand — that officers engage in the practice of daily wear. Thankfully, there are many stories of saves to help provide motivation. “Saves” are violent encounters in which the officers involved were saved because they were wearing soft body armor. Manufacturers promote these incidents to inspire confidence in their product and to encourage officers to wear their armor in performance of their duties. Safariland has a saves club consisting of 1,921 officers saved and Point Blank routinely issues press releases for officers saved using their products. Just this year alone is rife with examples of the benefits of daily wear.
Saves Matter
On New Year’s Day this year, Lewisburg (W. Va.) Lieutenant Jeremy Doves and Officer Nicholas Sams stopped a pickup truck operating with stolen plates. Unbeknownst to them, the occupants had just committed a double murder and were transporting the bodies of the two victims in the rear of the pickup. The officers were immediately fired upon and both were hit with rounds from a handgun.
Lieutenant Dove was hit in the chest and received shrapnel wounds to his neck. Officer Sams was hit in the lower back and received minor shrapnel wounds to his forehead. The officers were wearing department-issued Point Blank Alpha Elite Level II vests that are credited with saving their lives.
Cornelius (N.C.) Lieutenant James Quattlebaum was shot on May 2 responding to a family argument. Lieutenant Quattlebaum was attacked immediately upon arrival by a 16-year-old who was also wearing soft body armor. The lieutenant was hit in the abdomen by 12-gauge shotgun pellets. While one officer tended to Lt. Quattlebaum’s wounds, another returned fire and injured the suspect. Lt. Quattlebaum was wearing a Second Chance Summit ST01 threat level II vest and suffered only minor injuries from pellets that hit him below the vest.
On May 27, Officer Brian Scott of the Memphis (Tenn.) Police Department was shot in the upper chest with a .357 Magnum while serving a warrant with the department’s narcotics unit. The suspect fired through the door at officers attempting to enter his residence. He was extracted from the scene by Officer Charles Wren who incidentally is a save himself. Officer Wren was shot in 2012 by a man brandishing a sawed off shotgun at a local shopping center.
Officer Scott was wearing a Protech FAV MK II vest with Level IIIA ballistics. This is the second time in 2015 that a member of Safariland’s Saves Club assisted another officer saved by his vest during a violent assault. Officer John Lyons of the Cleveland (Ohio) Police Department rendered assistance to Officer David Muniz on March 10th after he was shot by a .45 caliber handgun while responding to a domestic violence incident. Officer Lyons had just returned to work two days earlier after he himself had been shot in the chest with a 9mm pistol. Both officers were wearing Second Chance Summit SM01 IIIA soft body armor at the time of their assaults.
An unidentified sergeant from St. Louis (Mo.) Police Department is perhaps the most recent save. The sergeant was ambushed on July 14th while seated in his personal vehicle in full uniform on a security detail. He was able to return fire and survived the assassination attempt with only minor injuries. Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the case. The sergeant was wearing Point Blank Hi-Lite threat level II body armor at the time of the attack.
Recommendations
Post saves in the squad room, share them with fellow officers, read them at roll call or during department training. Discuss threat levels, the types of armor involved, the choice of manufacturers, and the various features available for soft body armor. There are other benefits from these conversations as well. Examining these stories provides information about violent encounters, the types of weapons used, and offers insight into the offenders involved. No department or officer of any rank is immune from the threats detailed here.
These incidents involved rookies, administrators, officers on detail and in special investigative units. They took place in jurisdictions with populations of 4,000 to 650,000. They serve as examples that violent assaults can happen anywhere to anyone, that officers can survive and stay in the fight, and that their equipment can indeed save their lives.
