12/31
   MIAMI (UPI) -- A national police association says 140 law
enforcement officers died in the line of duty in 1992, with the
highest death counts in Texas, Florida, and New York.
   "While the preliminary figures might indicate a small decline in
officer deaths, we certainly are not encouraged by the statistics
nor the tragic stories behind each of them," Gerald Arenberg,
executive director of the National Association of Chiefs of Police,
said Thursday.
   There were 142 law officer deaths reported in 1991.
   Arenberg said he expected the 1992 total to climb as reports came
in from more than 21,000 law enforcement agencies throughout the
country.
   For the fourth year, Texas was the most lethal state for law
officers, with 16 deaths in 1992, up from 15 in 1991.
   Florida ranked second, with 12 officer fatalities, up from eight
the previous year. New York reported 11 deaths, up from nine in
1991.
   "If there is an encouraging sign in the preliminary figures, it
may be an apparent decline in the frequency of shooting deaths of
law officers, reversing a tragic trend," the association said in a
news release. "Among the 140 deaths reported for 1992, there were 60
(or 43 percent) involving firearms. That's down from 75 fatal
shootings (or 53 percent) of the 142 officer deaths in 1991.
   In 1990, guns were the cause of 63 (or 43 percent) of 147 total
fatalities, while firearms were the cause of 72 (or 38 percent) of
the 1989 toll of 189.
   Arenberg speculated that better training and the use of bullet-
resistant jackets may have contributed to the decline in fatalities.
   "We should not take the decline...as a sign of less danger for
officers, however," Arenberg said. "While there have been more than
60 documented cases in the past year in which body armor has saved
lives, there has been an increased requirement for heavier
protection that may lead officers not to wear bullet-resistant
jackets at all times."
   Arenberg said the number and frequency of traffic-related deaths
rose dramatically in 1992.
   Fifty-four officers, or 39 percent of the total, died in traffic
accidents, up from 41, or 29 percent in 1991. In 1992, 38 of the
deaths occurred with officers in their vehicles.
   The 1992 death toll also included eight line-of-duty heart
attacks, two from air crashes, two stabbings, two deadly assaults,
one drowning and eight attributed to miscellaneous causes, ranging
from inhalation of toxic fumes to explosion of confiscated
fireworks.
   The association operates the American Police Hall of Fame and
Museum in Miami, which has maintained officer fatality records since
1960.
   Since that time, the names, ranks and department affiliations of
more than 4,500 fallen officers have been inscribed in the hall's
marble memorial.
   The FBI Uniform Crime Report states that the average age of an
officer killed in the line of duty is 27, and that the most
dangerous day of the week is Thursday. Most officers are injured or
killed between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.
   Arenberg said in 1992, some 60,000 officers were injured on the
job, averaging 164 a day.