December 29, 2009 |
2009-R-0463 | |
STATISTICS ON ASSAULTS AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS | ||
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By: Duke Chen, Legislative Analyst | ||
You specifically wanted to know the number of assaults that have been made on Connecticut police officers, the charges brought against those accused of such assaults, the charges for which they were convicted, and the criminal penalties. Finally, you wanted to know whether neighboring states have imposed higher penalties for assaulting police officers and what those penalties are.
SUMMARY
The number of assaults against police officers in Connecticut has averaged around 714 per year from 1997-2006, the last year for which consistent data is available. As Attachment 1 shows, the number of assaults during this period fluctuated from a high of 805 in 1997 to a low of 648 in 1999.
Under the law, assaulting a police officer and other specified public safety officials is a Class C felony (CGS § 53a-167c). A Class C felony carries the punishment of imprisonment for 1-10 years and up to a $10,000 fine.
The Connecticut Judicial Department compiles these and other crime statistics based on the number of times someone is charged with a criminal offense. Because the database does not break down the charges brought under this statute by the type of officer assaulted, we can only report the aggregate number of charges and outcomes for assaulting all officers, not just police officers. As Table 1 below shows, from 2004-2008, the average number of offenses per year for all public safety officers during this period is 1,210; the number of assaults ranged from 1,161 per year to 1,256 per year.
With the exception of New Hampshire, all the New England States, as well as New Jersey and New York have statutes that make assaulting a police officer a higher penalty than an assault on other people. As Attachment 2 shows, New York appears to have the most stringent punishment, consisting of three to 15 years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. Conversely, Vermont appears to have the most lenient punishment, consisting of up to one year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine.
CRIME AND PROSECUTION OF ASSAULTING AN OFFICER
(CGS § 53a-167c)
By law, an assault of a police officer is a class C felony crime, which means if convicted, imprisonment of one to 10 years and up to a $10,000 fine. This provision also applies to assaults on other state officials including public safety personnel, emergency medical personnel, Department of Motor Vehicles inspectors, firefighters, emergency room physicians or nurses, correction officers, members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, probation officers, and certain employees charged with the protection of children in the judicial process.
Using a Judicial Department database, we compiled case statistics for crimes prosecuted under CGS § 53a-167c. Because the data is entered in the database without separating assaults for the different types of public safety officers, we can only report the total number of assault charges and outcomes for all public safety officers, not just for police officers.
The data in Table 1 is based on offenses disposed of by the courts. An individual is often charged with multiple offenses in the same case. And an individual might also have multiple cases during a year.
Offenses can be disposed of in a number of ways. Because an individual is often charged with multiple offenses in the same case, some charges might be dismissed as part of an agreement to plead guilty to other charges. For example, if an individual was charged under CGS § 53a-167c and another crime, then worked out a plea deal for the other crime that did not include the assault charge, that offense would be categorized as a dismissal. The plea statistics in Table 1 refer to pleas for assaults against all officers.
Table 1: Outcome of Prosecution under CGS § 53a-167c
2004-2008
Guilty |
Not Guilty |
Dismissed | |||||
Fiscal Year |
Offenses |
Jury Guilty |
Conviction |
Plea |
Jury Not Guilty |
Non-Jury Not Guilty |
Nolle |
2004 |
1,227 |
2 |
97 |
272 |
2 |
1 |
853 |
2005 |
1,220 |
1 |
104 |
322 |
8 |
2 |
783 |
2006 |
1,188 |
5 |
60 |
325 |
3 |
1 |
794 |
2007 |
1,256 |
8 |
47 |
380 |
9 |
0 |
812 |
2008 |
1,161 |
4 |
26 |
382 |
2 |
1 |
746 |
Source: Judicial Department
DC:ts
Attachment 1: Assaults Against Police Officers in Connecticut
1997-2006
Year |
Number of Assaults |
1997 |
805 |
1998 |
732 |
1999 |
648 |
2000 |
657 |
2001 |
721 |
2002 |
707 |
2003 |
663 |
2004 |
732 |
2005 |
709 |
2006 |
761 |
Source: Connecticut Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, available at http://www.dir.ct.gov/dps/ucr/ucr.aspx.
Attachment 2: Survey of Neighboring States' Penalties for Assaulting Public Safety Officers
State and Statute Citation |
Imprisonment |
Fine |
Connecticut CGS § 53a-167c |
1-10 years |
Up to $10,000 |
Maine Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. t:t. 17-A § 752-A |
Not more than five years |
Up to $5,000 |
Massachusetts Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 265, § 13D |
Not less than 90 days nor more than two and half years |
Not less than $500 nor more than $5,000 |
New Hampshire |
No Statute | |
New Jersey N.J. Stat. § 2C:12-1(b)(5)(a) |
If victim suffers bodily injury: three to five years If victim does not suffer bodily injury: up to 18 months |
Up to $15,000 Up to $10,000 |
New York N.Y. Penal Law § 120.08 and 120.11 |
Assault: three to fifteen years Aggravated Assault: three to twenty five years |
Up to $5,000 for either assault or aggravated assault |
Rhode Island R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-5-5 |
Not more than three years |
not more than $1,500 |
Vermont Vt. Stat. Ann. t:t., § 1028 |
Not more than one year |
not more than $1,000 |