Probation, Parole and Community Supervision Officers Killed or Assaulted While on Duty

Enacted: Sep 2005

WHEREAS, the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) recognizes the dedication and sacrifices of the men and women of the United States who have been killed or assaulted while serving in law enforcement and related positions;

WHEREAS, the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit Act of 1976 recognized a public safety officer as a person serving a public agency in an official capacity, with or without compensation, as a law enforcement officer, police, corrections, probation, parole (emphasis added) and judicial officer;

WHEREAS, the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit Act provides a one-time financial benefit to the eligible survivors of federal, state, and local police, fire, and emergency public safety officers killed in the line of duty, and to officers who are permanently and totally disabled as the result of traumatic injuries sustained in the line of duty;

WHEREAS, the domestic security of the United States is preserved and protected by a variety of personnel who are employed in law enforcement and related fields. They serve many different functions, and carry different credentials, but their commitment to public safety is inherent in their department’s mission and practices. There are functional variations among probation, parole and community supervision officers (e.g., some are armed, some perform arrests) but these are distinctions without difference and these officers put their lives on the line every work day, just as other law enforcement officers do;

WHEREAS, probation, parole, and community supervision officers represent the justice system as the front line supervision of adult and juvenile defendants and offenders who have been placed under their authority. Further, in the eyes of said defendants and offenders, these officers are the gatekeepers who bear the responsibility for taking necessary actions which may well result in arrest and incarceration of these defendants and offenders;

WHEREAS, these officers maintain long-term, frequent contact with the same, often dangerous defendants and offenders (as well as their families and acquaintances);

WHEREAS, there are data on law enforcement officers killed and assaulted that do not include statistics relative to probation, parole, and community supervision officers due to a narrow definitional interpretation of their status which precludes them as law enforcement personnel.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the American Probation and Parole Association strongly urges that the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division recommend to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that probation, parole, and community service officers be included in the Unified Crime Reporting statistics for law enforcement officers killed or assaulted in the line of duty;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the American Probation and Parole Association urges the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to require the National Incident Based Reporting System to include uniform reporting of state data of probation, parole and community supervision officers killed or assaulted while on duty regardless of jurisdictional differences in titles and functions.