Abstract
Traffic stops are a staple of law enforcement patrol and provide regular interaction with the community. Previous research has examined many aspects of traffic stop incidents, particularly when officers mortally wound civilians. However, accounts of peace officers feloniously killed during traffic stop incidents have received much less empirical review. The goal of this study was to establish a profile of fatal peace officer traffic stops and felony traffic stop encounters utilizing content analysis of federal, state, and local opensource data. Demographic and incident level characteristics of law enforcement officers feloniously killed during the course of traffic stops revealed an average tenure of 9.59 years, were alone in their patrol vehicle at the time of the fatal incident, and were killed during the ante phase of the stop. Firearms were overwhelmingly used in the incidents, most suspects worked alone, and the majority of incidents involved a non-felony traffic stop. Our study contributes to an already growing body of literature on traffic stop fatalities by being one of the first to establish a profile of United States peace officers feloniously killed during traffic stops.
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Notes
Technical Sergeant Robert Bruce Butler, US Air Force; End of Watch 01/10/1998 Senior Chief Petty Officer Terrell Edwin Horne, III, US Coast Guard; End of Watch 12/02/2012
Sergeant Ronald Kelly, Ak-Chin Tribal Police, End of Watch 11/20/1995
Using information found in obituaries and photographs included in obituaries, law enforcement websites, and news articles, researchers determined the most likely race of the law enforcement officer.
Transportation types were noted to be motorized 4-wheeled vehicles excluding tractors and two-wheeled modes of transportation, a taxi was determined to be a motorized vehicle hailed or otherwise requested by a party for a pay-by-use situation, a tractor is motorized husbandry, and a boat is a floating vessel with an engine.
January 1, 1990 to December 31, 2020
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Jackson, S.M., Rippy, M. When Peace Officers Are Killed: Profile of Fatal Felonious Law Enforcement Traffic Stop Encounters in the United States. Am J Crim Just 49, 100–120 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-022-09692-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-022-09692-7