U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

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There were 1,203 officers with the DHS who were assaulted in 2009. Of these officers, 1 officer was killed and 6 officers sustained injuries. The following provides information by agency within the DHS:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection:
1,185 officers were assaulted, including 1 officer that was slain with a firearm and 1 officer who suffered injuries inflicted by a weapon other than a firearm.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement:
2 officers were assaulted and both were injured with weapons other than firearms.
U.S. Secret Service:
16 officers were assaulted, 3 of whom were injured with weapons other than firearms.

Type of activity

At the time they were attacked, officers from the DHS were performing the following activities:

1,167 officers were assigned to patrol or guard duty.
10 officers were on protection duty.
7 were conducting investigations/searches.
4 were maintaining custody of prisoners.
15 officers were assigned to other duties at the times of the attacks.

Weapons

Weapons that were used against the DHS officers during the attacks include the following:

185 of the 1,203 DHS officers were attacked with personal weapons, such as hands, fists, or feet.
64 of the DHS officers were attacked with vehicles.
38 officers were attacked with firearms.
2 of the officers suffered attacks with blunt instruments.
914 of the officers were attacked with other types of dangerous weapons.

Dispositional information

Law enforcement authorities identified 31 suspects in the assaults on DHS officers. At the time of this report, dispositional information was available for 12 of these assailants:

Prosecution was declined for 10 known assailants.
1 suspect was found guilty.
1 suspect was awaiting trial.