Assaults: One more risk local officers face

Two Lodi police officers remain on medical leave after being injured while trying to detain suspects in two separated incidents last month.

It's certainly not the first time officers have been injured on the job, and it happens more often than the public might realize.

During the last fiscal year, sworn Lodi police officers filed a total of 28 workers compensation claims. Risk Manager Kirk Evans did not have exact figures, but estimated that up to half the claims were the result of contact with a suspect.

The city has paid nearly $60,000 toward those claims.

Law enforcement officials don't have a ready explanation for why suspects fight with armed officers, but some think it could be related to California's Three-Strikes law which increases penalties for previously convicted violent offenders. Drugs, alcohol and mental health problems are also thought to play a role.

Assaults don't just happen in Lodi -- or in Galt, where a motorcycle officer was assaulted Wednesday afternoon while trying to detain a suspect. In state prisons, assault rates are steadily climbing, though correctional officers are trained to avoid such incidents.

Correctional and police officers receive on-going physical training and are also taught to watch closely for signs of a possible confrontation.

But for officers who spend entire shifts trying to resolve disputes, not every suspect is going to go peacefully into custody.

"People don't call 911 because they're having a good day. Usually when our officers arrive on scene it's because something's going wrong," Lodi Police Chief Jerry Adams said.

Such was the case last month, when officers Eric Shaw and Hettie Maggini arrived at a home where a Lodi woman was allegedly trying to break into the home of her mother -- who had a restraining order against her daughter. Police reports from the incident said both officers tried to detain the suspect, who kicked and spit on them.

Days later in court, the suspect pleaded guilty to assault on an officer. Maggini, who was injured in the process, remains off work and is under the care of a doctor, Lt. Chet Somera said.

In an unrelated incident, Officer Walt Saunders was trying to detain a suspect last month and injured his back in the process. He is also on medical leave and will be off work at least through the end of June, Somera said.

In addition to injuring the officer, such events put a strain on the rest of the department.

Overtime for the department of 78 sworn officers is not uncommon, especially since Lodi has two vacancies, two more officers are set to retire soon and another is on active duty in Iraq.

Part of the job

Lodi's recent incidents are certainly not the first of their kind. Officers frequently chase suspects who run. When they catch up, the suspects are usually still trying to get away.

Many such incidents end without injury to the officer, and sometimes police don't even push for assault charges, Somera said.

Facing unhappy, unpredictable people is part of the job, law enforcement officials say.

All officers must graduate from accredited police academies before being hired. And, then they must have yearly training of at least 24 hours.

Correctional officers, whose work consists almost entirely of dealing with prisoners, must have 23 hours of training each year. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department, which staffs the county jail in French Camp, actually provides 30 hours of training, spokesman Chris Stevens said.

In jails and prisons, assault numbers are going up.

Though state prisons are fuller than they've ever been, statistics from the California Department of Corrections show that assaults are increasing faster than the population. In 2000, there were 1.9 assaults per 100 people in the prison system. A decade earlier, there was only one assault per 100 people.

"I hear about assaults every day," CDC spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.

Sometimes the assaults do not involve a fight, but instead consist of an inmate throwing urine or feces at an officer who is simply walking past a cell, Thornton said. If the inmate has hepatitis or HIV, that can put the officer at risk.

Why the assaults?

Why inmates assault correctional officers is a loaded question, though. Thornton said the officers are often targeted simply because they represent authority.

"Sometimes (the inmates) just have problems controlling their anger. Or sometimes they have mental health issues," she said, adding that of several assaults on a recent weekend, all of the suspects had mental health problems.

Mental health issues figure into local assaults, too -- as well as emotional troubles.

"There are just a lot of people out there who have real anger management problems, and we're usually the ones who end up dealing with that," Adams said.

When those people wind up in prison, the troubles don't suddenly go away.

"Sometimes the younger inmates who are there for life are more problematic because they feel they have nothing to lose," the CDC's Thornton said.

"The most stable inmates are the lifers who have been in prison for some time and have become resigned to the fact that they're not going to get out forever, or at least a long time."

Those who do get out of prison and have strikes on their record are more likely to resist arrest, officers say.

Adams, who supports the Three-Strikes law, acknowledges that it's not without its drawbacks.

"There is probably more incentive now to run or to fight because you could go back to jail for a longer amount of time," he said.

Stevens echoed those thoughts.

"There are those who are desperate. You're going to arrest them for petty theft, but you don't know it will be their third strike that will put them away for 25 years," he said.

And sometimes alcohol and drugs play a role.

"There's a lot of methamphetamine around there, and one of the hallmarks of methamphetamine is paranoia," Stevens said.

In at least one of the recent Lodi assaults, the suspect was ordered by the court to attend a treatment program.

Preventing injury

Officer-assault cases don't seem to be dropping, and law enforcement officials say the best way to protect themselves is to expect it.

Correctional officers carry pepper spray and batons, but they've found that the best way to diffuse a situation is through communication with the inmates, Thornton said. Many near-assaults are never reported because officers talk through the situation and resolve it, she said.

The same is true for police officers and deputies who make sure they have back-up or have the upper hand before they even tell suspects they are about to be arrested, Stevens said.

He paraphrased "The Art of War" author Sun Tzu: "In the art of war, the acme of skill is to win a battle without actually engaging in violence. In other words, you outmaneuver your opponent so well that resistance is futile."

In addition to guns, officers carry non-lethal weapons including pepper spray and Tasers. The items can be used without causing any permanent harm to either the suspect or the officer, Somera said.

Officers also learn to watch for clues that a suspect may be ready to bolt or fight. Would-be assailants sometimes give themselves away though a clenching of the jaw or a tightening of the fist, Somera said.

Though officers train mentally and physically for the unknown, Somera said, there will always be a risk that goes along with the job.

"A lot of officers go out there and never know, day to day, if they're going to walk back in their front door."