Police officers face violent trend

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Grand Rapids Police Sgt. John Dorer has noticed an increasing number of suspects are choosing to fight, rather than respect the badge.

"That's the kind of desperate stuff that you're seeing now that you never did before," said Dorer as he patrolled the city's South Service Area on Wednesday.

Annual use of force statistics, released by GRPD this week, show the number of times officers had to use force has stayed relatively steady throughout the past five years -- averaging 1.5 times per day.

But the number of officers injured during arrest or more dangerous situations is bucking the trend.

Out of 352,614 contacts with the general public last year, officers were injured 87 times.

Most injuries are considered minor. But others, including broken bones, can be debilitating to an officer who must rely on top physical conditions to do the job.

Officers also have noticed more suspects holding onto guns instead of throwing them away when running from the police, which adds to the danger when an officer catches the suspect.

Across the United States, the number of police officers killed by gunfire alone was up more than 600 percent in 2009.

The latest example is in Jackson, where 26-year-old officer James Bonneau was shot and killed while looking for the suspect in a domestic disturbance Tuesday.

"Money's tight and people are desperate, you know, they're just willing to do a lot more heinous things when they got nothing to lose," Dorer said.

That's one theory.

But the training division boss blames another trend for the increase in violence toward officers. GRPD Lt. Dan Lind said increased scrutiny in the way officers do their jobs from inside their departments, as well as the public on the outside, has reduced respect some people have for the uniform.

"I think it's a decade of demonizing some of the law enforcement profession, not only in the city of Grand Rapids, but countrywide," Lind said.

But despite the numbers, Dorer said, it's a job he and many others wouldn't trade for anything.

It's a job he loves.

"I don't want to sound like a cliché, but I do," Dorer said. "There is no better job."