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Assaults on Police Officers in Iowa, 1980

NCJ Number
83999
Date Published
July 1982
Annotation
This report analyzes assaults against law enforcement officers in Iowa which occurred during 1980; location, assault circumstances, weapons used, assignments of assaulted officers, and resultant injuries are considered.
Abstract

Statistics indicate that 82 percent of the assaults on officers occurred in Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, i.e., the counties of Polk/Warren, Johnson, Scott, Dubuque, Black Hawk, Woodbury, Linn, and Pottawattamie. The rate of assault was also highest in these areas. They reported 50.9 assaults for every 100 officers, compared with 13.6 percent per 100 officers in other cities, and 5.2 per 100 officers in rural areas. Few assaults involved weapons other than hands and feet. Of the 1,136 assaults reported during 1980, only 10 involved firearms. Most assaults arose from situations involving an arrest. Disturbance calls accounted for almost 32 percent of the assaults, and arrests for burglary and robbery accounted for another 24 percent of the assaults. The vast majority of the assaults did not result in injury to the officers. In each population category, assaults were most likely to occur between the hours of 6 P.M. and 6 A.M. Clearance rates for assaults on officers were exceptionally high; in 1980, 94 percent of the offenses were cleared by arrest. Uniformed officers, as opposed to plainclothes officers, were most likely to be assaulted. Thirteen tables are provided. (Author summary modified)

Date Published: July 1, 1982