The International Association

of Chiefs of Police

AMBUSH

FACT SHEET

A combined effort of

AMBUSH

FACT SHEET

This project is supported by Cooperative Agreement 2011-CK-WXK036, awarded by

the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The
opinions contained herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the
official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific
agencies, companies, products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by
the author(s) or the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to
supplement discussion of the issues.

The International Association

of Chiefs of Police

INTRODUCTION
This report was developed as part of an initiative with CNA, the Department
of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to build knowledge on the
topic of ambush assaults against law enforcement. This oft-neglected topic has
garnered increased attention in recent years, as officer safety has come to the
forefront of many criminal justice discussions. In 2011, the U.S. Attorney General
acknowledged the many initiatives making an impact on officer safety and
pledged that more work was needed, including the identification of tactics and
protocols to protect officers from ambush-style assaults. In response, CNA, IACP,
and COPS have initiated long-overdue foundational research on ambush assaults
against law enforcement.
The report presents descriptive findings from the Federal Bureau of Investigations
Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) in the Line of Duty data
collection program. Two datasets are used: an incident-level supplemental dataset
of serious injurious and fatal assaults against police; and an agency-level dataset
that captures all assaultsnon-injurious, injurious, and fatalper agency.

3
WHAT IS AN AMBUSH?
Generally, four factors have come define an ambush assault:

Element of surprise

Concealment of the assailant, their intentions, or weapon

Suddenness of the attack

A lack of provocation

Ambushes are classified in two ways:

Entrapment ambushes are premeditated. This sort of attack is what many police
consider to be the traditional ambush, where the offender lures an unsuspecting
officer into a location to execute an attack.
Spontaneous ambushes are unprovoked attacks without long-term planning.
These types of attacks are often considered crimes of opportunity. The assailant
makes the decision at the time of the officers approach and surprises the officer
with an unprovoked assault.
Figure 1 shows that, since 1990, the majority ambushes reported to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) via incident data have been classified as
spontaneous.

Ambush Classica;ons, 1990 - 2012

Entrapment
32%

Spontaneous
68%

Figure 1

AMBUSH

FACT SHEET

TRENDS INDICATE A GENERAL DECLINE IN AMBUSH INCIDENTS, FATAL AND

NONFATAL, SINCE 1990
In 1991, the nation saw a total of 526 ambush attacks against law enforcement,
including fatal and nonfatal incidents, which is the highest number in the past
25 years. That number declined precipitously through the 1990s and leveled
off through the early and mid-2000s. Since 2000, the average annual number
of ambushes is around 215. There was a recent uptick in incidents from 2008
through 2010, and more recently in 2012. Figure 2 shows the trend in ambushes
from 1990 through 2012. The solid red bars represent the total number of
ambushes per year, while the shaded red area illustrates the general trend.

Ambushes on U.S. Law Enforcement

550
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Total Ambushes 408 526 474 380 426 284 254 206 263 239 210 196 218 205 201 201 195 206 255 245 266 216 267

Figure 2

5
OFFICERS MURDERED IN THE LINE OF DUTY ARE INCREASINGLY LIKELY TO
HAVE BEEN AMBUSHED
Since 1990, 1,219 law enforcement officers have been murdered. Annual figures
vary considerably, whereas the annual average is about 55. From 2008 to 2011,
the number of officers murdered increased from its lowest figure in two decades
(40) to the second highest in that time period (68), representing a 70 percent
increase. In 2012, murders of the police declined considerably.
An increasing proportion of police murders have been classified as ambushes.
Between 1990 and 2000, police murders that were attributable to ambush
assaults was about 12 percent; from 2001 to 2012, that figure was 21 percent.
Figure 3 shows the total number of felonious deaths, along with the number of
those that are from ambush attacks, from 1990 through 2012.The shaded areas
illustrate the general trends, while totals are presented at the bottom of the graph.
Felonious Police Deaths
70
60
50
N

40
30
20
10
0

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Total Felonious Police Deaths 61 62 56 64 70 64 55 65 55 43 48 66 48 53 52 53 44 57 40 47 48 68 48
Ambush Police Deaths

11

10

13

15

10

16

15

15

15

Figure 3

THE AGENCIES
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the geographic dispersion of ambush assaults, fatal and
nonfatal, since 1990. Figure 4 shows that the Pacific, South Atlantic, and Middle
Atlantic Regions of the United States have had the greatest number of ambush
assaults, with over 750 each. New England has had the fewest less than 250
in this time period.

AMBUSH

FACT SHEET

Figure 5 normalizes the number of ambushes by the number of agencies in

the regions. When accounting for the total number of agencies, we see that
the trends change little. The Pacific Region has the greatest average annual
number of ambushes per 1,000 agencies, with over 15. New England remains
as the least prevalent location for ambushes, with fewer than 6 per 1,000
agencies per year.

Figure 4

Figure 5

7
THE OFFICERS

The profile of an ambushed officer is a



38-year-old male with 11 years on the
38 YEARS OLD (AVG.)


job and an average build. Because of the
MALE (97%)

diversity of law enforcement agencies and

5'10/200 LBS (AVG.)

command structures in the United States,

11 YEARS EXPERIENCE (AVG.)
their ranks range widely. Yet from what is


ALONE AT TIME OF ATTACK (82%)
reported, we know that these officers are
most likely to be patrol officers (38%),
deputy sheriffs (17%), or sergeants (15%).
The vast majority (82%) of officers are
Figure 6
alone at the time of the ambush. More than half (55%) were assigned to oneofficer patrol vehicles at the time of the assault. About 12 percent were on foot
patrol, and 10 percent were in two-officer vehicles. The rest were detectives,
undercover, on special assignment, or off-duty.

THE ASSAILANTS

30 YEARS OLD (AVG.)


MALE (97%)


5'9/177 LBS (AVG.)


CRIMINAL RECORD (75%)


VIOLENT CRIMES (40%)


UNDER JUDICIAL SUPERVISION (27%)


PRIOR RELATIONSHIP (23%)

The assailants in ambush incidents are

30-years-old, on average. Three-quarters
of the assailants have a criminal record.
A sizable minority (40%) have a violent
criminal record. More than a quarter are
under judicial supervision at the time of the
assault. Close to one in four have some sort
of prior relationship with the officer in the
incident, including personal interactions and
previous arrests. The vast majority (83%)
Figure 7
of assailants acted alone. Nine percent of the time, there are two assailants. In 8
percent of ambush incidents, there are 3 or more assailants.

AMBUSH

FACT SHEET

WEAPONS
Figure 8 illustrates the makeup of weapons assailants have used in ambush
assaults. Overall, firearms have been the weapon most commonly used by
assailants in ambush attacks. However, a significant proportion of assailants
use only their hands as weapons. Knives and other sharp objects are the least
frequently used weapon. Interestingly, a substantial proportion of ambush
assaults are carried out using other deadly weapons, which include anything
from a blunt object to a motor vehicle. Figure 9 shows that, over time, the
proportion of ambushes in which hands were the assailants weapon has
increased, whereas the proportion of firearms as weapons has generally
decreased. In 2012, hands and firearms were used almost equally to carry out
ambush assaults.

Weapons Used in Ambushes

35%

36%

Firearm
Knife
Other
Hands

26%
Figure 8

3%

9
Weapons Used in Ambushes - Firearms and Hands
60.0%
50.0%

Percent 40.0%
Makeup
30.0%
of all
Ambushes

Hands
Firearm

20.0%

2011

2012

2009

2010

2008

2007

2005

2006

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

0.0%

1990

10.0%

Figure 9

The most common firearm used in an ambush was a handgun, followed by a rifle,
then a shotgun, as shown in Figure 10.

Firearms Used in Ambushes

11%

Handgun
Rie

51%
38%

Figure 10

Shotgun

10

AMBUSH

FACT SHEET

AMBUSH SURVIVABILITY
Figure 11 compares the survival rates for entrapment ambushes and spontaneous
ambushes. Entrapment ambushes have been more fatal. Of the officers involved
in an entrapment ambush, 41 percent survived, compared to 49 percent in
spontaneous attacks. The overall survival rate for ambush assaults is about 46
percent.

Ambush Survival Rate by

Type of A@ack
100%
75%

Percent of
Ocers 50%
Survived
25%

41%

49%

0%

Figure 11

Ambush - entrapment

Ambush - spontaneous

The table below compares the survival rates for ambushed officers, broken down
by different factors that may improve survivability. The differences are stark:
Officers who were wearing protective body armor survived 53 percent of the time,
compared to 30 percent who were not. Officers who took cover and officers who
returned fire were also much more likely to survive than those who did not.

11
CLEARANCE RATES
Clearance rates for both assaults and ambushes have increased over time;
however, ambush clearance rates remain considerably lower than assault
clearance rates. In 1990, ambushes were cleared in just 49 percent of cases; this
increased to 83 percent by 2011.

Ambushes Clearance Rates

100%

88%

75%

Percent
Cases
Cleared

82%

50%

44%
25%

0%

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Figure 12

Year

12

AMBUSH

FACT SHEET