“The majority of police officers will make a deadly force decision but only get services for the traumatic event if they actually pull the trigger,” said Dr. Joel Shults, a former college professor who presently is the Chief of Police for Adams State College in Colorado.

Shults, who is also a PoliceOne Contributor, explained his recent research on police officers as crime victims during the IACP Confernece in Denver last month. Shults’ work with the Violence Against Law Officers Research (V.A.L.O.R.) Project began when he was listening to characteristics of domestic violence victims: repeated voluntary exposure to violence, reluctance to report, refusal to consider themselves a victim, poor access to victim services, and lack of communication with prosecutors and investigators. Recognizing that this sounded similar to police officers dealing with being assaulted, the first V.A.L.O.R. survey questioned attitudes and experiences of police officers regarding victimization on the job.

Shults’ Web site says, “Go to the Internet and search the term ‘police violence.’ The slanderous misinformation and hate-mongering is stunning. We have a good and growing data base about deadly force and murders of police officers but precious little information about other victimization and anti-police violence. In a quest for helpful study of this issue created the Violence Against Law Officer Research (VALOR) Center.” Continue reading