Please Don't Shoot Me, I'm Not The Bartender

The US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), is a goldmine of information for the law enforcement researcher.

In 2009, approximately 572,000 nonfatal violent crimes (rape/sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault) occurred against persons age 16 or older while they were at work or on duty, based on findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). This accounted for about 24% of nonfatal violence against employed persons age 16 or older. Nonfatal violence in the workplace was about 15% of all nonfatal violent crime against persons age 16 or older.

It also provides guidance on where not to get your ass kicked while working.

There is some good news, nonfatal workplace violence is down. Of course the BJS does not mention if this decline resulted from the fact that there are far fewer workplaces in the US now than there were 16 years ago.

From 2002 to 2009, the rate of nonfatal workplace violence has declined by 35%, following a 62% decline in the rate from 1993 to 2002.

Between 2005 and 2009, law enforcement officers, security guards, and bartenders had the highest rates of nonfatal workplace violence.

Among workplace homicides that occurred between 2005 and 2009, about 28% involved victims in sales and related occupations and about 17% involved victims in protective service occupations.

The following rates of workplace violence are per 1,000 employed persons age 16 or older. For all occupations, the average is 5 incidents of workplace violence per 1,000 employed persons.

#1Bartender 79.9

#2 Law Enforcement Officer 77.8

#3 Security Guard 65.0

Must be the booze. And for the occupations with the lowest rate of violence:

#1 Preschool 0.9

#2 College/university 1.9

#3 Other/Unspecified 2.8

Somehow I am not surprised that preschoolers inflict the least amount of horror. But give them time to get big enough to swing a chair.