Bulletproof vests, seat belts not worn in police officer deaths

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON—An FBI analysis of police officer deaths is revealing a troubling and persistent pattern in which substantial numbers of officers were not wearing body armor or seat belts when they were fatally shot or involved in deadly vehicle accidents.

Of the 46 officers killed by firearms in 2014, 11 were not wearing bullet resistant vests. During the same period,10 of 28 officers killed in vehicle accidents were not wearing seat belts. Six of the 10 auto accident victims, according to the FBI report, were ejected from their vehicles during the crashes.

While it is unclear how many lives could have been saved by closer compliance with the safety measures, officials said the gaps underscore a long-standing frustration across law enforcement. The analysis also comes as officer conduct is being increasingly scrutinized following a series of fatal encounters with suspects and deadly attacks against officers.

Last year, a coalition of police chiefs and union leaders, citing alarming non-compliance rates involving body armor and seat belts , called for mandatory policies for vests and seat restraints. At that time, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who co-chaired a White House advisory panel on local policing operations, said it was law enforcement's "responsibility to do everything we can to reduce officer fatalities and improve safety.''

Although traffic-related incidents have consistently been among the leading causes of officer deaths, law enforcement seat-belt compliance has hovered around 50%. The compliance rate among the general public has been estimated at 86%, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In fatal shootings, meanwhile, 36% of officers killed from 2003 to 2012 were not wearing body armor, according to FBI statistics.

A rising number of agencies have adopted mandatory-wear requirements in recent years. Those rules have been met with resistance from some officers who say that the armor is often too uncomfortable, especially in warm climates, and that seat belts slow their movement in and out of patrol cars.

"We will never know if body armor or seat belts might have saved any of the officers who died last year,'' said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum whose group helped broker last year's armor and seat belt policy agreement. "But we must work to ensure that officers are provided with the best protective equipment, and that they use it always as a matter of routine."

A spate of fatal shootings targeting officers this month has brought new attention to the safety measures. Yet those cases also have exposed the limitations of safety equipment. Two of the officers slain in the past week were shot in the head.

"As these cases have shown, there is no 100% protection,'' said Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union.

And there are occasions, Pasco said, when such equipment as body armor is not practical, including in undercover investigations.

"We urge officers to wear their body armor and seat belts wherever and whenever warranted,'' Pasco said.