Lessons Learned Overseas

by

Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA

 

While the United States has not experienced a major terrorist attack since September 11, 2001, there have been continual terrorist attacks around the globe. According to the National Counter Terrorism Centers (NCTC) Worldwide Incident Tracking System (WITS)[i], during 2004 there were only five terrorist incidents in the US (accounting for one injury). Conversely, during the same time period there were 3,192 terrorist incidents worldwide, resulting in 6,060 deaths and 16,091 wounded victims.

	Police	Total
Incidents	590	3192
Fatalities	1080	6060
Wounded	1370	16091
Table One[ii]

During 2004, 1,080 police officers were killed by terrorists and another 1,370 police officers were wounded by terrorists outside the US. Table one represents the number of officers killed and wounded versus the total number of people killed and wounded. The data seems to suggest that police officers who are victims of a terrorist act are much more likely to be killed (as opposed to wounded) than civilians who are victims of a terrorist act.

Police officers becoming victims of terrorist attacks appear to be a world-wide phenomenon. Table two represents a breakdown of those attacks by region. The information indicates, as we know, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are particularly dangerous areas. The third column of table two shows the percentage of police officers who are victims of terrorism. It is interesting to note that while police officers on average are targets of terrorism roughly 18.5 percent of the time world-wide, they are slightly more than 11 percent of the total number of victims.

Terrorist Incidents 2004 by Region
Region	Total	Police	Percentage
South Asia	1043	207	19.80%
Africa	64	8	12.50%
Central/South America	90	9	10%
East Asia Pacific	265	62	23%
Eurasia	205	70	34%
Europe	319	43	13%
Middle East/Persian Gulf	1196	190	15.80%
North American/Caribbean	10*	2	20%
Total Incidents	3192	591	18.50%
*The two incidents involving police officers in the North American/Caribbean region occurred in Haiti
**Data developed from the NCTC, WITS                                  Table Two

Perhaps, though police officers may be targeted by terrorists, their training and/or equipment may prevent them from becoming casualties.

Are Police Officers Targeted?

 

The data from outside the US seems to indicate that police officers are specifically targeted by terrorists. Like the US, many countries rely on internal police organizations to pursue criminal investigations against terrorists. Simply put, the data indicates that police officers worldwide are on the front line in the War Against Terror. They are the ones making arrests, guarding critical facilities and responding to the scenes of terrorist acts. Indeed, a closer look at terrorist acts reveals that among the incidents involving police officers, fatalities occur during attempts to arrest terrorists[iii], guard duty of critical facilities,[iv] response to situations[v], the conducting of routine operations, such as traffic control[vi], and off-duty ambushes[vii].

It also appears that police officers may be targeted because of their occupation. First, they are one of the most visible forms of civilian government. Terrorists seeking to strike at a government may view police officers as symbols of that government. Perhaps more importantly, the public views police officers as symbols of order and peace. Recall that the definition of a terrorist act involves striking at non-combatants in order to generate fear. It may be that police officers are specifically targeted because citizens become even more fearful when they see the people who are armed and charged with the responsibility of protecting the community fall victim.

Although US policing has not experienced anything close to the carnage of our brothers and sisters worldwide, it may be instructive to use the information from those attacks to attempt to determine likely circumstances and weapons that would be used in an attack on police officers in other regions, then review tactics designed to increase officer safety. Table three classifies the attacks on police officers[viii]. Table four outlines the weapons used by the terrorists.