Of the 36 officers attacked, 56 percent were making arrests/serving summonses; 25 percent were on patrol/guard duty; 8 percent were on office duty; and 3 percent had custody of prisoners. Eight percent of the victims were performing other duties.
Information on known assailants for INS officers was not reported. For the remaining Justice Department agencies, 124 assailants were identified in connection with 119 assaults.
Sixty-nine percent of the attacks were committed with personal weapons, 11 percent with vehicles, 6 percent with firearms, 6 percent with knives, and 3 percent with each of the following weapons: blunt objects, bombs, and other weapons.
The Department of the Treasury recorded 171 assaults on officers within its various branches. Thirty-five of these assaults resulted in personal injury. Most of the assaults (45 percent) were perpetrated against United States Customs officers. Customs officers also accounted for 21 of 35 Treasury Department officers injured in 1996.
Thirty-nine assailants have been identified in connection with the 36 assaults. Department of Justice The 320 attacks on officers of the Justice Department represented 58 percent of the total number of assaults reported in 1996. Sixty-one percent of these assaults were perpetrated against INS officers. Two Justice Department officers were killed and 52 were injured during the year. A United States Border Patrol agent was slain while attempting an arrest in a drug-related matter. One FBI agent was fatally wounded while working in an undercover capacity. Of all attacks against Justice Department officers, 33 percent were with firearms; 18 percent were with personal weapons; 5 percent with vehicles; 2 percent with knives; and 19 percent with other weapons. Threats comprised 23 percent of the total assaults. When assaulted, 60 percent of the officers were on patrol/guard duty; 9 percent were making arrests/serving summonses; 4 percent were on office duty; 3 percent were conducting investigations/searches; 3 percent had custody of prisoners; and 1 percent was on court duty. Twenty percent of the victims were performing other duties.
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Department of the Treasury
Among the weapons used against all Treasury officers, personal weapons accounted for 36 percent, vehicles for 9 percent, firearms for 1 percent, knives for 1 percent, blunt objects for 1 percent, and other types of weapons, 1 percent. Threats accounted for 51 percent of the assaults. At the time of the assaults, 43 percent were making arrests or serving summonses; 17 percent of the victims were conducting investigations/searches; 10 percent were on patrol/guard duty; 2 percent were on office duty; 2 percent were on court duty; and 1 percent were on protection duty. Twenty-six percent were performing other duties. There were 131 assailants identified in connection with the assaults on Treasury officers. Fifty-six percent of these were assailants identified for the assaults of ATF officers. U.S. Capitol Police In 1996, 4 assaults were reported by the U.S. Capitol Police. One victim officer suffered personal injury. All victims were on patrol/guard duty when assaulted.
