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Tennessee: Officer deaths on the rise

By: Jacqueline Koch
(Contact)

Included in this article

Kevin Morison

More aggressive and dangerously armed criminals have led to an increase in the number of law-enforcement officers killed nationwide in the line of duty, officials say.

In 2007, the number of officers killed intentionally in the line of duty rose to 57, compared to 48 in 2006, according to preliminary statistics released Monday by the FBI. The deaths are the most since 2004, when there also were 57 felonious deaths.

All but two officers were killed with firearms and 38 of those were killed by handgun, according to the FBI. And more than half the victim officers — 31 — were killed in the South, according to the FBI.

One of the 57 deaths in 2007 occurred in Tennessee — the January death of State Trooper Calvin Jenks, who was killed during a traffic stop near Covington, Tenn. One man was convicted of facilitation of first-degree murder in the case; another man is standing trial in Tipton County Circuit Court on a charge of first-degree murder, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Officer Jenks reportedly smelled marijuana and asked the men if they had drugs. Police said one of the men shot Officer Jenks in the head and body.

In 2007 nationwide, 83 law enforcement officers died accidentally, according to the FBI. In 2006, 66 were killed accidentally, records show.

Chattanooga Police Department Assistant Chief Mike Williams, who oversees patrol and uniformed operations, attributes the rise in deaths to more criminals arming themselves with high-powered assault weapons.

“(They) are much less hesitant to take officers on now or to assault officers than they were when I started,” he said of his career, which has spanned more than 25 years with Chattanooga police.

The police department does not change its policies or training based upon statistics, he said.

“We’ve recognized the dangers that officers face on the street and try to give them as many tools as possible, be it the equipment and/or training to keep them safe,” Chief Williams said.

Local police officers wear body armor and some carry urban rifles they purchased themselves, Chief Williams said. Many law enforcement departments across the country have begun providing such rifles to officers, he added.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives maintains officer safety as its highest priority, and agents routinely participate in training, said Special Agent Darryl Hill, resident agent in charge of the Chattanooga field office.

“We don’t want to be outgunned out there,” Agent Hill said. “The thought of someone pointing an assault rifle at you is terrifying.”

For this report, the FBI does not examine why certain regions have higher numbers of crime than others, but the South may see more violent crime and, in turn, more officer deaths because it has the highest total population of all regions, said Nancy Carnes, a supervisory writer and editor with the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting.

Only one case of the 57 remains uncleared by either arrest or exceptional means, a testament to the diligence of local law enforcement agencies, Ms. Carnes said. That specific case was not released with this report.

“(If) a small town would have one death, one murder, most of the time they can clear that,” she said.

Until 2007, officer deaths had been declining from 142 in 2001, said Kevin Morison, communications director for the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, which remembers and honors the nation’s law-enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.

“I think 2007 was unfortunately a dangerous and deadly year for law enforcement in the United States,” he said, attributing it to a statistical aberration because the trend appears to be lessening again in 2008.

At this point in 2007, the nation saw 27 officers killed by gunfire compared to 15 this year, Mr. Morison said. Some of those are the result of friendly fire.

On Tuesday night, Tennessee Officer Jenks was one of five state officers added to a national memorial in Washington D.C., bringing the total Tennessee officers listed on the memorial to 421. The National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund lists 18,274 officers who died in any way in the line of duty throughout history, Mr. Morison said.

Chattanooga will honor its fallen officers during a ceremony outside the county courthouse at 10 a.m. Thursday.

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