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Tactical Medical Skill Requirements for Law Enforcement Officers: A 10-Year Analysis of Line-of-Duty Deaths

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Matthew D. Sztajnkrycer
Matthew D. Sztajnkrycer*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA Medical Director, Rochester Police Department, Rochester, Minnesota, USA Medical Director, RPD-OCSO Emergency Response Unit, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
*
Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Introduction:

In the absence of other data, military Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) precepts are increasingly being adapted to law enforcement needs. The purpose of this study is to better describe the nature of potentially preventable law enforcement Line-of-Duty Deaths (LODDs) occurring as a result of felonious assaults.

Methods:

A retrospective analysis was performed of open source data available through the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) program for the years 1998–2007 inclusive.

Results:

After applying exclusion criteria, 341 victim officers were included in the study. The most common cause of death was head trauma (n = 198), followed by chest trauma (n = 90). There were 123 victim officers that suffered potentially preventable deaths; the majority of these injuries involved the chest. Over the 10-year study period, only two officers (0.6%) died from isolated extremity hemorrhage.

Conclusions:

The current emphasis of TCCC on control of exsanguinating extremity hemorrhage may not meet the needs of law enforcement personnel in an environment with expedited access to well-developed trauma systems. Further study is needed to better examine the causes of preventable deaths in law enforcement officers, as well as the most appropriate law enforcement tactical medical skill set and treatment priorities.

Keywords

assaulthemorrhagelaw enforcementprehospitalpreventable deathTactical Combat Casualty Care
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , August 2010 , pp. 346 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2010

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