Record high number of female officers killed in 2008
Survey: Crime spikes related to economy
Baltimore to stop Id'ing officers in shootings
40% fewer officers killed by gunfire in '08
More restrictions on life outside the job
DOL issues much anticipated FMLA regulations
Local police, firefighters injury rate twice Arizona average
Record high number of female officers killed in 2008
By Craig W. Floyd
February 2009
Reprinted with permission of the author and AMERICAN POLICE BEAT
A convenience store camera had caught the entire incident on videotape-every horror-filled moment. Nicola Cotton, a 24-year-old New Orleans police officer, had been brutally murdered while attempting to arrest a rape suspect.
It was a Monday morning, January 28, 2008. One of her colleagues, Matt Patin, was among the first officers on the scene. He had heard the urgent radio transmission from the police dispatcher saying that an officer needed help just a few blocks away. When he arrived on the scene, he stepped over a number of spent shell casings and saw his friend, Nicola, lying motionless on the ground and bleeding from her head. "I dropped down on the ground next to her and called her name, 'Nicola, Nicola.' I was hoping she would answer, but deep down, I knew she would not," he said later.
After watching his friend taken away in an ambulance, Matt went into the nearby convenience store and learned about the videotape of the incident. "I watched Nicola fight for her life for almost seven minutes," he said. "I watched the killer stand over her and shoot her over and over and over. When she squirmed, he took another shot. She did not go down without a fight. While I was watching the video, I thought, "You go girl — you gave it your all."
Nicola Cotton became the first of 15 female officers killed in the line of duty in 2008 (based on preliminary findings by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Washington, DC). There has never been a deadlier year for women in the history of American law enforcement. The only other year to match that record-high total was 2002. Ironically, the overall number of law enforcement fatalities in 2008 was 140, the second lowest figure in more than 40 years. This means that for the first time ever, more than 10 percent of all of the officers killed last year were women.
Among those 15 female officer fatalities, six were killed in automobile crashes, four, including Officer Cotton, were shot to death, two were struck and killed by vehicles, one was stabbed, one died in a train crash and one died of a job-related illness.
According to the International Association of Women Police, women have been involved in police work since 1845, when they were first assigned as matrons in the New York City Police Department. But it was not until 1893 in Chicago that a woman, Marie Owens-the widow of a Chicago police officer-was actually given the rank and pay of "policeman." In 1910, Alice Stebbins Wells of the Los Angeles Police Department, became the first woman to be classified as "policewoman," and was given arrest powers. Over the next 60 years, only nine female officers were killed in the line of duty, compared to 9,279 male officers who died during that same period of time.
The first woman in the United States to be killed in the line of duty was Anna Hart, a jail matron with the Hamilton County (OH) Sheriff's Department. On July 24, 1916, she was beaten over the head with an iron bed post by a prisoner in the county jail who was attempting to escape.
A similar fate awaited another jail matron, Mary T. Davis, eight years later in Wilmington, Delaware. A female prisoner, Annie Lewis, had been arrested for threatening her husband with a pistol. Matron Davis was put in charge of her and she was alone with the prisoner on the second floor of the Wilmington jail. When Matron Davis observed water coming out of Lewis's jail cell, she went in to investigate and was savagely beaten about the head with a chunk of concrete. Though 67 years of age, Matron Davis put up a fierce fight against her much younger attacker. Department records reflect that the funeral procession for Mary Davis was the largest Wilmington had ever seen. The inscription on her gravestone helps explain why. It reads: "Mary T. Davis - A Friend to All."
Since 1970, though, there have been 220 women killed in law enforcement service (about three percent of the total law enforcement fatalities for that period), which is indicative of the substantially higher number of women in law enforcement beginning in the 1970s. Interestingly, the 15 female officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in 2008 was approximately 11 percent of the total number of fatalities, which is nearly identical to the total percentage of sworn female officers serving in the United States today (11.7 percent, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2007).
Skagit County (WA) Sheriff's Deputy Anne Jackson, 40, was described by one of her law enforcement colleagues as "the champion of the underdog." Her law enforcement career began as the department's first animal control officer. She gained great satisfaction rescuing abused and neglected pets. A few years later, though, she wanted to help victimized people and became a patrol deputy. Tragically, though, her valued service to her community ended on the afternoon of September 2, 2008.
Deputy Jackson was responding to a trespassing complaint in the small northwest Washington town of Alger. When she did not respond to a radio status check another deputy was sent to investigate. He found Deputy Jackson shot to death, along with another murder victim at the same location. Two other construction workers were found shot and killed nearby and yet another body was discovered a few houses away. The murder suspect was a mentally deranged killer who had recently served six months in jail for the possession of drugs. Before finally being captured, the 28-year-old man killed another motorist, his sixth murder victim, and wounded four others, including a Washington state trooper.
Deputy Jackson had touched many lives during her law enforcement career. Even the mother of her killer told of how Deputy Jackson had reached out to her in the past, trying to help with her mentally ill son. "She was very gracious," Dennise Zamora said. "She knew exactly what we were going through."
Among the onlookers at Deputy Jackson's funeral was a homeless woman who had only met the caring law enforcement professional once. "I was homeless, and she pulled up in her patrol car, rolled down the window, and handed me five bucks. I'll never forget it."
Skagit County Sheriff Rick Grimstead said, "We all grieve for [Deputy Jackson] and all the families of all the other victims. It's not just our loss. It's the community's loss."
Craig W. Floyd is chairman of the National law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and is a regular contributor to AMERICAN POLICE BEAT. Visit www.nleomf.org for more information about law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. Back to top
Survey: Crime spikes related to economy
By KEVIN JOHNSON
USA TODAY, Jan 27, 2009
Nearly half of the 233 police agencies surveyed since the collapse of the nation's financial markets link increases in criminal offenses to the faltering economy, a new review by a law enforcement research group shows.
In a comprehensive survey of possible links between crime and the economy, the Police Executive Research Forum found that 44% of agencies reported spikes in crime linked to the economy. Of those, 39% reported increases in robberies, 32% in burglaries and 40% in thefts. The report also found that 63% of the 233 agencies were bracing for funding cuts during the upcoming year.
The survey, conducted over a five-week period starting in late December, asked for information on all of 2008 but emphasized the past six months to account for the economic crash.
The combination of declining resources and increases in some offenses represents the "first wave" of bad news for communities and police officials, says Chuck Wexler, the research forum's executive director.
"When departments saw increases in violent crime (in 2005 and 2006), they were able to flood the problem areas using overtime for additional patrols. Now, that overtime is drying up," he says. He adds that 62% of police departments said they were cutting overtime spending.
Crime dropped in 2007 and during the first half of 2008, according to the FBI. The FBI's full report on 2008 won't be completed until later this year.
Among cities reporting increases in crimes linked to the sagging economy:
*Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington blames the economy for increases of 14% in burglary in 2008 and of 17% in auto theft. Many of those offenses spiked as the economy soured, he says.
Instead of taking jewelry and other valuables, he says, burglars are stripping homes of flat-screen TVs and computers. Both items can easily be resold.
"I haven't seen stuff like this in a long time," Pennington says.
*Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo says financial woes are pushing people to violence. He says aggravated assaults rose 10% last year. Many involved family having to money disputes, he says.
"The state of the economy is putting tremendous pressure on the American family," Acevedo says. "There are homes the cops all know where there has been a pattern of problems. Now, we're going to homes that haven't been problems in the past."
*Topeka police reported spikes in shoplifting and burglaries. Thieves there are stealing license plates to recover stickers on the plates that show proof of tax payments, according to the report.
Some communities reported a decrease in crime despite the economic slump. Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris says crime in his city has not worsened, and property-related offenses -- burglary, theft and robbery -- actually have declined 9%.
"We would like to think it's our crime-suppression effort," Harris says. "I hesitate to take responsibility for declines in crime, because that means you get the blame when it goes up."
Eleven percent of the agencies reported crime increases they did not link to the economy.
Wexler says police aren't likely to feel the full impact of the faltering economy until at least midyear because crime tends to pick up in the summer.
In Atlanta, Pennington says the economy already is hampering the department's ability to fight rising crime.
City workers, including the department's 1,760 officers, administrators and chief, are now working 36-hour weeks to save money, he says. The hourly cuts took effect after Christmas.
"This just started," Pennington says. "We'll see how it goes." Back to top
Baltimore to stop ID'ing officers in shootings
JUSTIN FENTON
The Baltimore Sun, Jan. 8, 2009
Baltimore police will no longer release the names of officers who kill or injure people, changing a long-standing practice that the department believes put officers at risk.
The decision is prompting criticism from several Baltimore leaders, who said withholding officers' names will only endanger an already tenuous relationship between the police and the community. Baltimore police shot 21 people last year, 13 of them fatally - the same number killed by police in 2007, when 31 people were shot. Those numbers are up from 2006, when 15 were shot and five killed.
"If we're ever going to get to a point where the community trusts the police, we need to have some transparency and full disclosure about what's happening," said state Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a West Baltimore Democrat who is a public defender.
The Police Department is asking residents to become more engaged in their neighborhoods and to work with police to solve crimes and overcome a "Stop Snitching" culture. Marvin L. "Doc" Cheatham Sr., president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, said he wouldn't want police to give out information that endangers officers, but he said the new policy "doesn't help" improve community relations.
"We've got to find more and better ways to bring the community and police together," he said. "This may not sit too well with many of us."
Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III declined to comment on the change, saying he left the decision to new department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The new policy mirrors those of some other departments and is designed to protect officers from retaliation, Guglielmi said.
A spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon said she will not interfere with the department's decision.
Regionally and across the country, police agencies differ in their disclosure of police-involved shootings; some release the names within hours and others withhold the information altogether.
The police union applauded the policy change. Robert F. Cherry, president of the Baltimore police union and a former homicide detective, said the department vigorously investigates shootings that involve officers.
"If anything, the investigation is more intensive than for the average citizen," Cherry said. "The only thing the department is doing differently is choosing not to release their name. ... I'm surprised we haven't gone to this earlier."
Talk of the change surfaced nearly a year ago in February, but officials in the mayor's office said they had not been briefed and promised the issue would be thoroughly vetted. Over the summer, police informally stopped releasing names of officers involved in shootings.
Six people were shot by officers during that span, and only one officer was identified. Four victims were identified.
Among the last officers whose names were released was Officer Tommy Sanders, who has since been indicted on manslaughter charges in connection with the death of Edward Lamont Hunt at a Northeast Baltimore shopping center. Hunt was shot several times in the back after he attempted to flee. Sanders, 38, is scheduled to go to trial next month.
Guglielmi, who joined the department last month after a stint with the federal Office of the Special Counsel, said the change is not a departmentwide rule but a policy of the public affairs office, which disseminates information.
Guglielmi said the department will release the names of officers only if they are found through an internal investigation to have erred - though that could require a policy change as well, since the department currently does not notify the public about the results of internal investigations.
"After doing a couple ride-alongs [with officers], I sincerely believe there are some security implications for identifying officers unless they were found in the wrong," he said.
Guglielmi cited backlash against Officer Salvatore Rivieri, the Inner Harbor patrol officer who was videotaped berating a teenage skateboader. The video was posted on YouTube and appeared on national television, and police said Rivieri has received death threats at his home.
But Doug Ward, director of the division of public safety leadership for the Johns Hopkins University and a former state trooper, said the Rivieri case is a perfect example of the public's right to know about a potential problem officer. He said police must provide a certain amount of transparency for the public to trust that their internal investigative process is responsible.
"I understand that they're trying to protect their own and that kind of thing, but I'm not sure that's good public policy," Ward said.
A spokeswoman for Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said last year that she had concerns about the prospect of withholding officers' names and "would not do anything to jeopardize the progress that we have made with our relationship with the community." The spokeswoman, Margaret T. Burns, said yesterday that Jessamy's position had not changed.
Alvin O. Gillard, director of the city community relations commission, said he hopes police will look more closely at the community impact.
"Unless there's some compelling reason, I don't know if it's going to be helpful in rebuilding that [trust]," Gillard said.
Many Baltimore-area law enforcement agencies report names of officers involved in shootings. Anne Arundel County releases the information within 12 to 24 hours. Baltimore County police release information on the judgment of its media relations office. Maryland State Police and the Harford County Sheriff's Office decide case-by-case, typically taking the officer's assignment into consideration.
Maj. Andrew Ellis, commander of the Prince George's County police public affairs office, said his department waits 24 hours after a shooting, then publishes information on the department's Web site.
"We believe it is in the public interest for our residents to know when our officers use deadly force," Ellis said. "Our officers are public agents. One thing the chief has promised is that there will be transparency with our agency."
In other big cities, policies are split on the issue. Washington Metropolitan police release officers' names depending on the circumstances; Los Angeles police are under orders from the city's police commission to release the names of officers, even if they were working undercover.
Boston police do not release names until an internal investigation is complete. Police in Detroit, Philadelphia and New York do not divulge names at all, officials said. The FBI also withholds names.
"That's basically for the safety of the agent in question, as there may be individuals who may try to retaliate against that agent," said FBI spokesman Bill Carter. "The names do get out, in many instances, [when] the [local field offices] will look at it to determine if it was a rightful shooting. But we do not as a policy."
Many critics of Baltimore's policy change noted that officers involved with shootings are often taken off the streets while a review is conducted, reducing the danger of retaliation.
Moreover, critics said, knowing the identity of police officers is crucial to public accountability.
"In the aftermath of a shooting, citizens would be interested in whether there's been any other incidents related to that officer," said David Rocah, a staff attorney with the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "That would seem like extremely important information, and there would be no way to know that unless you have the name." Back to top
40% fewer officers killed by gunfire in '08
USA Today, Dec 28, 2008
The number of police officers killed by gunfire in 2008 dropped to its lowest level in more than 50 years, says a report out Monday by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Forty-one officers were shot and killed in 2008, down 40% from 68 in 2007. That's the lowest number since 1956, when 35 officers died from gunfire. The U.S. population today is 305 million, compared with 169 million in 1956.
The total number of officers who died in the line of duty — 140 — dropped 23% from 181 in 2007, one of the highest totals in two decades. The overall figure includes police killed in traffic fatalities and other accidents plus shooting deaths.
The high number of police deaths in 2007 spurred a new emphasis on officer safety training and equipment, says Memorial Fund Chairman Craig Floyd. More officers are wearing body armor and using stun guns to protect themselves, he says.
"2007 really became a wake-up call for law enforcement in this country," Floyd says. "There were aggressive actions taken to improve officer safety."
Yet Ed Nowicki, executive director of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, says he fears a tight economy and shrinking police budgets will force departments to cut back training.
"You need cars, you need firearms, you need uniforms. Training is an abstract," Nowicki says. "The number of deaths in 2008 is nothing compared to the deaths in the late 1960s and 1970s. It was much higher then. Better training and equipment have made a difference."
The Philadelphia Police Department this year had four fatalities, including one female officer. That was the most police deaths of any agency in the USA and accounted for half the police deaths in Pennsylvania, the study says.
Philadelphia had no police deaths from 1996 to 2006, says Lt. Frank Vanore. This year "was the deadliest for our officers in recent memory," he says.
Philadelphia Sgt. Stephen Liczbinsky died in May trying to stop a car carrying three alleged bank robbers. One got out of the car and fired a high-powered weapon, killing the officer, Vanore says.
In September, Sgt. Patrick McDonald was shot by a man released early from prison, Vanore says.
"It's obvious there's too much violence and a lot of violence directed at police," Vanore says. "It's been a tough year."
Among the report's findings:
• Female officers for the first time accounted for more than 10% of officers killed in a single year. The number of female officers killed, 15, matched the high set in 2002.
• For the 11th consecutive year, more officers died from traffic-related incidents than any other cause of death.
• Other fatalities included two officers who died in a bombing, two who were stabbed and two who died in a helicopter crash. Back to top
More Restrictions On Life Outside The Job
By Mark Nichols, American Police Beat, Dec. 15, 2008
It's beginning to feel like the space between the rock and the hard place many police officers live in financially is getting smaller by the day. For instance, off-duty police officers across Arkansas who live for free or get a cut in their rent at apartment complexes in exchange for working security jobs may be in hot water: some say the cops could be breaking federal law if they don't pay taxes on the benefit.
According to an article in the North Little Rock Times, a number of local police departments in the state's larger cities allow officers to have off-duty jobs, with some restrictions. It appears to be common for officers holding security jobs at apartment complexes where they live to at least get a discount cut on their rent, if they pay any at all.
In North Little Rock, 13 apartment complexes have officers working as off-duty security officers, police spokesman Sgt. Terry Kuykendall told the Times.
Kuykendall's counterpart in Little Rock said some apartments in Arkansas' capital city advertise they have officers who work as security guards living in the complex.
"I don't know if people are living for free, but I do know they get a pretty good discount," Little Rock Police Department Sgt. Cassandra Davis told the Times' Jeremy Peppas.
Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, said any off-duty job for a trooper would have to approved by a supervisor. That's a rule common to most police departments and that would make it possible for a trooper to receive free or reduced rent. "I do not know of anyone," Sadler said in an interview. "But you also have to remember we have 553 troopers, so it is possible."
Police officials in a number of other Arkansas cities, including Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff and Springdale, all said their departments allow officers to have off-duty jobs at apartment complexes in exchange for free or reduced rent.
But officers who don't pay taxes on the benefit may be skirting federal law, said David Stell, an Internal Revenue Service spokesman for Arkansas and Oklahoma. "Generally speaking, and not knowing specific details, that would be correct" Stell told the Times. "You might have circumstances that would exclude them."
Stell said free or reduced apartment rent for an off-duty police officer working security could be excluded as income under certain conditions including: the lodging is furnished on your business premises; the lodging is furnished for your convenience; or the employee must accept it as a condition of employment. "Meeting the first test - furnished on the business premises - is easily met. However, meeting the other two tests are more difficult," Stell told reporters. The IRS official acknowledged the issue would not be a priority for the agency. "It would be something that would come up in an audit. That's certainly something we would ask: Where do you live? How do you pay your rent or mortgage?" he told the Times. Back to top
DOL issues much anticipated FMLA regulations
From CCH.com, Nov. 17, 2008
The first revision to the Family and Medical Leave Act’s (FMLA) regulations since its enactment in 1993 law was published by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division in the Federal Register on November 17, 2008. The FMLA allows eligible employees a total of 12 weeks of job protected unpaid leave during the year to care for a newborn or sick child, spouse or parent, or to recover from their own serious health conditions. In addition to addressing issues related to the definition for “continuing treatment” of a serious health condition, notice requirements and medical certification, among others, the final regulations also implement the new military leave provisions signed into law by President George W. Bush last January.
“This final rule, for the first time, gives America’s military families special job-protected leave rights to care for brave service men and women who are wounded or injured, and also helps families of members of the National Guard and Reserves manage their affairs when their service member is called up for active duty,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “At the same time, the final rule provides needed clarity about general FMLA rights and obligations for both workers and employers.”
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181), signed into law by the President, included provisions amending the FMLA to allow the “spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin” of injured military personnel to take up to 26 weeks of leave during a 12-month period to care for a “member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in outpatient status...on the temporary disability retired list, for a serious injury or illness.” That part of the expansion to the FMLA, the military caregiver leave provision, took effect upon the President’s signing.
The other leave entitlement, the qualifying exigency leave provision, requires employers to provide 12 weeks of FMLA leave to the spouse, son, daughter or parent of a servicemember who is on active duty (or has been notified of a pending call or order to return to active duty). It will not take effect until the final regulations take effect. The expansion required the Secretary of Labor to define “any qualifying exigency” through regulation. The final rule defines “qualifying exigencies” as: (1) short-notice deployment; (2) military events and related activities; (3) childcare and school activities; (4) financial and legal arrangements; (5) counseling; (6) rest and recuperation; (7) post-deployment activities; and (8) additional activities where the employer and employee agree to the leave.
According to the preamble to the final rule, the DOL has incorporated, wherever feasible, the new military family leave entitlements into the FMLA regulations, stating that the procedures used when taking military family leave should be the same as those used for other types of FMLA leave whenever possible. There will be exceptions, particularly as to the certification and notice provisions, but the DOL believes that “completely separating the military family leave provisions from the provisions governing the taking of other types of FMLA leave would create unnecessary confusion and complexity for employees and employers.”
Beside military leave, on “serious health conditions,” the final rule clarifies that if an employee is taking leave involving more than three consecutive calendar days of incapacity plus two visits to a health care provider, the two visits must occur within 30 days of the period of incapacity. It also defines “periodic visits to a health care provider” for chronic serious health conditions as at least two visits to a health care provider per year. The final rule consolidates all employer notice requirements into a “one-stop” section of the regulations to clear up some conflicting provisions and time periods. Regarding medical certifications, the final rule adds a requirement that limits who may contact the health care provider by banning an employee’s direct supervisor from making the contact. The final rule can be found at: http://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-26577_PI.pdf. Back to top
Local police, firefighters injury rate twice Arizona average
The Tucson Citizen, Sept. 10, 2008
It's common knowledge that public safety jobs are dangerous, that those workers put their lives on the line and that risk is fundamental to the identities of those workers. What's less known - and difficult to pin down - is the cost of their injuries.
According to city and county records, injured firefighters and police officers have, since 2002 had $14 million in insurance claims and injured deputies had $6.2 million in claims.
But while the city and county track worker injury insurance claims, other costs, such as overtime required of other workers to cover an injured employee, are not.
Local departments do not keep a database of information on the time off because of injuries or of days on "light duty," the less physically strenuous responsibilities given to hurt workers. Data on injury-related counseling and the injuries' impact on morale and staffing also is difficult to come by.
What is clear is that the city's injury rate for officers and firefighters is more than two times the state average.
The Industrial Commission of Arizona reported that in 2005, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 10.9 injuries for every 100 full-time employees involved in "justice, public order and safety activities" in the state, and 10.3 of those were injuries to police. Of those injuries - about 2,300 total - 500 involved time off to recover from the injuries and 400 involved light duty.
In Tucson in 2007, the police department's 1,100 officers sustained 256 injuries and the city's 700 firefighters had 268 injuries. That works out to 23.3 injuries per 100 officers and 38.3 injuries per 100 firefighters.
In the past five years, the city has paid between $800,000 and $3 million per year on medical expenses related to police injuries, and between $330,000 and $715,000 per year on hurt firefighters.
Up until a couple of months ago, the county did its calculations differently - and in-house. Now Pinnacle Risk Management Services, a Portland, Ore., company with branches in every Western state, handles claims for the city and the county, bringing the county in line with industry standards that say risk management is more objective in the hands of a third party.
In the past five years, Pima County has paid between $252,000 and $988,000 per year on costs related to injuries to its 500 or so sheriff's deputies. Unlike newer figures, those numbers include compensation, equipment and other miscellaneous costs. Both accounting versions include the indemnity costs and the expenses of administering the claims.
The pre-switchover figures show that between 68 percent and 86 percent of the cost was medical expenses, depending on the year. Between 8 percent and 27 percent involved compensation during deputies' time off.
It's the time off associated with injuries that really gets to public safety workers, who identify closely with their jobs, union leaders said.
"Generally, we want to get back on the job as soon as possible," Larry Lopez, president of the Tucson Police Officers Association said. "It affects morale."
In the fire department, the average time off work for common injuries such as neck and back injuries is one month, Tucson Fire Department spokesman Capt. Norm Carlton said. Those injuries are also the most common for police and sheriff's deputies, according to workers' compensation records.
Through a combination of workers' compensation and salary payments, workers receive between two-thirds and 100 percent of their full salaries while on injury-related leave, depending on the department.
Sometimes the injuries are serious enough that workers can't return to their jobs, at least not in the year they are given to heal. In the past five years, 21 police officers and one firefighter were forced to retire for medical reasons, said Liz Martinez of the Tucson Police and Fire Public Safety Retirement System Boards.
Those medically-retired employees are paid each month about half of the monthly salary they would have received for the rest of their working careers, Martinez said.
The cost of injuries, however, is not only measured in dollars.
Deputies Matthew Salmon and Bruce Haufe were shot in February, their injuries together costing the county more than $20,500 in medical expenses.
Police officer Erik Hite died after he was shot during a car pursuit in June. That incident, plus the shooting of Officer David Friedman, who was hit in the leg during an arrest, totaled $885,000.
But the effect on the departments, not to mention the workers' families, is profound, said Matt Janton, the southern Arizona representative of the 100 Club, a nonprofit that helps families of public safety workers injured or killed in the line of duty.
You always think, 'That could have been me,'" said Janton, who worked for the state Department of Public Safety and Northwest Fire.
Fulfilling their reputation as a brotherhood, public safety workers rallied to help the Hite family financially and personally, Janton said.
In an e-mail announcing a Web site in honor of Hite, the officer's wife, Nohemy Hite, wrote: "TPD has been great and I appreciate their caring, thoughtfulness and promptness in making sure I didn't have to worry about financial issues. Between the donations and Erik's benefits at least I don't have to worry about money right now."
"We take care of our own," police Sgt. Tony Kadous said.
Kadous is treasurer and co-founder of Hearts of Gold, a nonprofit TPD employees group created to do just that. Officers contribute at least $5 a month through their paychecks to the group, which gives grants to police employees or their families to cover medical costs. The group receives about $15,000 a month, Kadous said.
The 100 Club offers grants to small departments for safety gear and pays benefits to hurt workers, Janton said. Three Tucson police officers and a Pima County deputy received benefits between April and June, according to the group's newsletter.
Help's also available from Arizona Concerns of Police Survivors, Line of Duty Death Northwest Fire Interagency Team and local unions, representatives said.
That's not to say departments aren't making changes to reduce injuries.
Paramedic Dan Wallace used to hurt his back about once a year lifting weights during the hour-and-a-half firefighters are given each shift for physical training. One of those back injuries caused him take a month off to heal. About two years ago, Wallace decided to end the cycle. He changed his workout to include more cardio and less weightlifting. He learned better techniques and volunteered to teach other firefighters how to work out more effectively and more safely.
He is one of about 20 of Tucson Fire Department's peer fitness trainers, who work with colleagues on and off duty to improve their fitness and reduce on-the-job injuries. About 9 percent of firefighter injuries occur in training, not fires or medical calls, according to a 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the only national review of firefighter injuries. No similar department statistics were available.
The fitness trainers are part of the department's campaign to reduce injuries, an initiative intended to keep more firefighters on the job, doing their jobs well and, secondarily, to save the city money.
In addition, the department overhauled its continuing education program this year to include more on-site and practical training, spokesman Carlton said.
It is department policy that firefighters get yearly physicals. Peer fitness trainers work closely with the city-appointed doctor to address any trends the doctor notices, Carlton said.
The Police Department has also made changes to reduce injuries, spokesman Sgt. Mark Robinson said.
"There are things that we would do in the '70s that we would never consider doing now," Robinson said, referring to detailed pursuit and arrest policies.
Technology has had a huge effect. To help officers multitask better, they practice using patrol-car technology in front of a video screen simulating the situations patrol officers may find themselves in, said Officer Steve Beller, who works at the Public Safety Academy. That training is intended to reduce vehicle accidents, which result in the most common, and expensive, injuries each year.
Sheriff's deputies are now required to wear body armor, union president Sgt. Christopher Rogers said.
And the number of serious injuries as a proportion of employees in the department is falling, even while the number of total injuries is increasing.
Carlton said the number of firefighter injuries is up because the number of firefighters increased by about 170 from 2002 to 2008 and the department has gradually placed more emphasis on reporting all injuries, especially exposures to potentially dangerous substances.
The other major factor, Wallace said, is that in contrast to the trend among firefighters, the general public is becoming less fit, which means heavier. That translates into more strained backs. Back to top