Study Shows Hours When Security Officers are Most Often Attacked
Using statistics from news reports, law enforcement incident reports, private agency injury reports, US workplace violence data and our own in-house database curated and analyzed during the past 16 years, Private Officer International has mapped out the hours and days that an officer is most likely to be harmed.
"Our data, clearly indicates that between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and on Friday, loss prevention, school security officers and security officers assigned to business complexes, offices and manufacturing and distribution facilities reported being assaulted and injured 41% more often than during other times or days," says the organization.
The group said that found that many retail security staff including mall uniformed officers and loss prevention agents made most of their organized retail theft and felony apprehensions during these times and that during these hours, robberies of jewelry stores and boutique shops often occurred.
"During the first few days of the week when there are no sales ads running or special event scheduled, retailers including big box stores, sparsely staff stores during the early morning hours when foot traffic is the lowest, leaving much of the store wide open for shoplifters, especially professional shoplifters who easily move about gathering large amounts of merchandise with few interruptions from employees or customers," it said. "During these hours, LP agents who challenge these large scale theft suspects, often alone, outnumbered and unarmed, are injured when struggling to take the suspects into custody. We have also found that since 2007, shoplifters are 23.4-percent more likely to be armed with a knife, firearm, pepper spray or a Taser. This percentage was almost 11 percent higher during security interactions at apartments, nightclubs and during property mobile patrol assignments."
On an elementary or high school campus, the first few hours of the weekday bring a level of structure and organization, in the form of reporting to a home room, being someplace for attendance, getting new assignments, turning in homework and being part of an expected routine. However, the hours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. that security officers are injured breaking up fights, escorting students to the principal's office, challenging trespassers who enter the campus and in accidents on school property, said the group.
For security officers assigned to business complexes, offices and manufacturing and distribution facilities Thursday, between the hours of 11 pm. and 4 a.m. is the most dangerous for private security officers working in apartment complexes, nightclubs, hotels, and gambling establishments.
"While we know that there is always a threat for those working in any area of private security, regardless of the time of day or the day of the week, some environments and types of businesses have shown themselves to be much more dangerous for officers because of the very nature of their client base, levels of staffing and their locations," it said.
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