ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997 TAG: 9703070082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
His bulletproof vest protected one officer. He was only bruised. The other is in critical condition.
Officers Christopher Wade and Ken Roane were chasing a teen-ager they thought was violating a city-imposed curfew early Thursday in a high-crime neighborhood when suddenly the youth pulled a gun.
The young man fired two or three times, and both officers were hit. The suspect got away and one of the officers lay in a hospital Thursday night.
As police forces across the nation put more officers on the streets ruled by violence, more men and women with badges will be put in the line of fire, criminologists say.
``In effect, it's asking officers to be on the front lines, and that is more likely to put them in a risky position,'' said William Pelfrey, professor of criminal justice at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Wade and Roane were shot in a part of Richmond that the city has designated as a ``prostitution and drug-free zone.'' The designation is more goal than reality, because the zones are rife with crime. No one convicted of prostitution or drug dealing is allowed within the zone, and the only children 16 or younger who are allowed inside are those who live there.
The officers were driving by about 12:20 a.m. Thursday when they saw two men, one of whom appeared to be under 16. When the suspect ran, Wade and Roane left their cruiser and chased him into an alley. The suspect fired, hitting Wade in the chest. Roane also was hit, but the bullet did not penetrate his bulletproof vest.
Wade was in critical but stable condition Thursday at Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, said police spokesman William Chorney. Roane, who was bruised, was released after treatment.
Putting more police officers in dangerous areas has driven down crime rates in many major cities, but sometimes at considerable risk to officers, police say.
Criminals aren't shy about firing at police officers, either. Suspects in a failed Los Angeles bank robbery last week leveled withering fire from automatic weapons at police officers in a shootout broadcast on live television. Robbers at a Richmond bank exchanged gunfire with officers as they made their escape after a Jan. 31 holdup.
But Jerome Storch, a police science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, said there is no trend of increasing violence against police.
FBI statistics indicate 76 officers nationwide were killed in 1994, the most recent year for which numbers were available, and 64,912 were injured. In 1985, 78 were killed and 61,724 were injured.
The suspect Wade and Roane were pursuing remained at large Thursday, Chorney said. The city offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to his capture and conviction.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines Type first letter of feature OR type help for list of commands FIND S-DB DB OPT SS WRD QUIT QUIT Save options? YES NO GROUP YOU'VE SELECTED: QUIT YES login: cby CNB