Felonious Line-of-Duty Officer Deaths (1995–1999): The Impact of Tenure and Age

Abstract

This article examines officer age and employment tenure variables in the FBI Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted summary from 1995 to 1999. During this time frame, 309 incidents of felonious officer deaths were reported to the FBI. The purpose of this paper is to identify patterns in the data for application within law enforcement when considering training needs over the life cycle of an officer's career, and to conduct original, exploratory research in the field. The research concludes that the combination of 0–4 years of experience combined with the ages 30–39 years was particularly deadly for the years 1995–1999. Finally, based on the findings, considerations for hiring, training and data collection are made.