Twice in the past seven months, a Penn Police officer has used deadly force against a perpetrator - the only two such occasions in Penn Police history.
The situations that led to these incidents - a shooting at Club Wizzards in late November and an April carjacking - reflect a trend of growing violence against police officers, both in Philadelphia and nationwide.
Thus far in 2007, 173 police fatalities have occurred across the country, up 27 percent from last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund.
"There's definitely a trend. You're not seeing this every year; there's definitely an increase," Penn Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said.
Use-of-force guidelines dictate that police officers may use lethal force when they believe their lives or the lives of others are in imminent danger of death or serious injury, which was the case in both of this year's fatal shootings by Penn Police.
Since 2000, the number of homicides by police officers that occurred after the officer was attacked has steadily increased, said Bob Kaminski, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, citing data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Violence against police officers in Philadelphia has jumped in recent months. Lt. Frank Vanore, a Philadelphia Police spokesman, said civilians have fired at six police officers this year - all occurring in the past three months - wounding five officers and killing one.
"That number is unprecedented in having that many officers shot in that short period of time," Vanore said. From 1998 to 2003, fewer than four Philadelphia Police officers, on average, were shot in the line of duty each year.
Penn Police have fired lethal shots in recent months, and violence against police officers has risen, but Vanore said the number of fatal shots fired by policemen against civilians in Philadelphia this year is not abnormally high.
Through November, police officers have wounded 17 civilians this year and killed 15, Vanore said. The two victims of Penn Police fire were not a part of the Philadelphia Police calculations.
In comparison, policemen fatally wounded 20 victims in 2006.
"Any time you're faced with deadly force, you need to use the same deadly force to neutralize the threat and control the situation," Vanore said. "It's nothing different than we've done in the past."
The difference this year, he said, is that more situations in which police officers have used deadly force have involved violence targeted at police officers.
In the April Penn Police fatal shooting, officers killed a carjacker during a struggle between the suspect and a police officer in which the carjacker tried to take the officer's weapon.
In late November, Penn Police killed a man who allegedly shot a disc jockey at Club Wizzards, a strip club located at 38th and Chestnut streets, and then pointed a gun at police officers.
Additionally, a man was killed by Philadelphia Police outside the Koko Bongo nightclub at 38th and Chestnut streets during an Oct. 28 gunfight.
Of the upward trend of violence against police officers, Rush said, "The job of a police officer is far more dangerous now than it ever has been before."
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