Chicago police officers strongly favor periodic retraining in street survival tactics to deal more effectively with attacks on officers, which happen more frequently than the public realizes, according to the results of a DePaul University study.

The conclusions are part of a four-phase research project by Rosemary S. Bannan, DePaul professor of sociology and anthropology, that primarily focuses on violence against Chicago police officers from 1993 to 1996.

Bannan, who specializes in the sociology of law, and a team of student and faculty researchers and police officer consultants studied hundreds of Police Officer Battery Reports and court dispositions, administered questionnaires and follow-up interviews with Chicago police officers about attacks on police, and analyzed national FBI data on officers assaulted and killed to complete the study.

Among their findings:

* Seventy-three percent of the 1,987 Chicago police officers surveyed said they had been battered one or more times. The majority of the batteries (59 percent) were described as minor, 31 percent were described as minor but requiring medical treatment and 10 percent were categorized as serious, requiring hospital care.

* Although the majority of injuries were described as minor, the study found that the close calls, as well as the serious injuries, "haunt police officers who can count less and less on the civility which their colleagues have known in the past."

* As years of service increased, so did the frequency of batteries and level of seriousness of the injuries sustained by officers, "reaffirming the need for retraining police officers with increasing years of service." Seventy-three percent of police officers with four to five years of service reported being battered, but it increased to 91 percent for officers with 21 years or more of service.

* Police officers strongly support retraining. Eighty-one percent of those involved in the survey said more training is needed to defuse violent situations. Only 24 percent said they had received training in street survival since leaving the police academy.

* Domestic situations posed the greatest risk of injury to Chicago police officers. Police are most often injured while working with partners, but officers working alone are more seriously injured. Their attackers are most likely to be single offenders, usually substance abusers, who use personal weapons (hands, fists and teeth) to batter officers.

Bannan said she launched the research project with the belief that the public, the media, and even the police department have uncertain knowledge of the frequency and prevalence of attacks against police. Only a few of the most severe police batteries, like the shooting of Chicago Police Officer Jim Mullen, who is now a quadriplegic, have captured attention, she said.

"What people don’t realize is that a lot of police officers sustain batteries, and that the effects of these batteries remain with them for a long time," Bannan said.

In addition to statistics and a comparison to the police department in Grampian, Scotland, Bannan’s study contains compelling excerpts of interviews with officers who have had close calls with death. The officers describe how they were beaten and shot and the difficult physical and psychological recuperation that followed.

"I still get that feeling in the pit of my stomach that I felt while it was going on," said one Chicago police officer who was shot. "It took one year until I could sleep through the night. I was up two, three times a night...thinking of all the bad things that could have happened to us."

NOTE TO EDITORS: Rosemary Bannan is available for interviews at work:  (773)325-7000, ext. 1812.

ADDITIONAL FACTS FROM DEPAUL UNIVERSITY’S FOUR PHASE STUDY OF

VIOLENCE AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS

1993-1996

BY ROSEMARY BANNAN, PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

* Ninety-four percent of the Chicago police officers believe the public is unaware of how frequently officers are battered. Sixty-one percent believe that if the public were aware, they’d be more supportive.

* "The reaction of the court system--prosecutors and judges-- to these attacks is a source of frustration and disillusionment to police officers," according to the study. Of 298 cases filed between 1993-96 involving batteries of Chicago police officers, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office charged only 17 percent of the offenders with felonies, while 83 percent were charged with less serious misdemeanors. Fifty-nine percent of offenders were either not prosecuted or received probation. If the cases go to court, "having to appear in court is the only punishment for the offender," according to the report.

* Eighty-two percent of the Chicago police officers said they believed that batteries against officers would decline if offenders were charged with felonies routinely. Eighty-six percent thought such batteries should be governed by a separate statute, similar to domestic battery.

* Nineteen percent of Chicago police officers reported never being battered. Officers interviewed said they avoided battery by building communication skills, maintaining a professional attitude, using appropriate body language and employing common sense.

* Ninety-two percent of Chicago police officers reported problems with the new 911 system. Battered officers experienced communication problems more frequently than non-battered officers.

* Sixty-five percent of the Chicago police officers said they had been the target of gunfire. Fifty-nine percent said they had never fired their guns on duty. Seventy-eight percent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "the weapons I carry should be updated."

* In addition to Chicago police officers, the researchers also studied batteries against police officers in the Grampian region of Scotland. While Chicago police were most often attacked during domestic situations, Grampian police were most often assaulted during public order disturbances, primarily by intoxicated people on weekends.