Spitting, punching and kicking are common forms of violence police, sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement personnel face in the line of duty. But just because violence comes with the job doesn’t mean it doesn’t take its toll on officers.

Aggravated assaults on Durango police officers have nearly quadrupled since 2022, according to data released this week by the Durango Police Department.

Police Chief Brice Current said he doesn’t know why assaults are up.

Durango police officers have been the victims of 67 assaults since 2019, with nearly 60% of those occurring in the past two years. Seventeen assaults occurred in 2023 and 23 were reported in 2024.

The assaults often occur when officers are responding to violent crimes such as domestic violence, and many occur at the La Plata County Jail or during transports to the jail.

Current said many factors may be contributing to the increase, including people’s emotions about politics or other happenings across the country. Or it could be an anomaly and not indicative of an emerging trend. He needs more data before leaping to conclusions.

“Unless you research each case specifically, and that’s what we need to do, you’re not going to know (someone’s motivation),” he said. “Even then, it’s hard to get into the mens rea or their intent or their mind.”

Sixth Judicial District Attorney Sean Murray said from a social science perspective, some of the biggest elements for increases in violent crimes are a lack of trust in law enforcement and government generally.

He said some of the most violent times in U.S. history were the American Civil War of the 1860s, the civil rights movement and Vietnam War in the 1960s and the post-Soviet Russia era of the 1990s. During such times, people questioned society and their governments.

“Since George Floyd’s murder, we have definitely seen an increase in anti-government sentiment,” he said. “There’s other factors too. It seems like the pandemic definitely played a role in just general distrust. Our political division seemed to have sort of devolved our society in some ways.”

In Murray’s experience, people are generally more agitated and on edge these days, he said.

He added distrust or mistrust in the government is not solely spurred by the citizenry; governments play a large role in trustworthiness. He said the DA’s office values transparency and accountability, and the same goes for Durango Police Department.

What Current is certain of is the effect aggravated assaults have on his officers and the need to prevent crime from happening in the first place.

“As a chief, when I walk in this building and I see somebody that’s been writing reports all day … and their lip’s all bloody and swollen, and the side of their face has a rash, that hurts and it’s hard to see,” he said.

Current said anytime an officer is physically assaulted, gets into a fight or otherwise gets hurt, it has a chilling effect. Several officers resigned from DPD after a Cortez police officer was killed by a shooter in November 2023.

He said he’s had officers sprain knees, tear ligaments and undergo surgery, removing them from field work for over a year, because they were attacked and had to fight for their lives.

Officers work under a lot of pressure, he said. They are constantly told they either “did too much or didn’t do enough.” They respond to incidents and paperwork follows, then court proceedings and often public scrutiny. Adding violence to the mix wears on an officer.

Current said officers take an oath to protect people’s constitutional rights. They debrief situations and have their team’s support and access to mental health professionals. But it’s up to the community as a whole to find ways to reduce assaults on officers just as it is to reduce crime.

He said there’s a big disconnect between officers’ experiences in the field and the community’s impression of policing. Look no further than a softball game between the fire department and the police department, and watch which team the crowd roots for.

“We’ve been our own worst enemy, and I think we’ve gotten better and better and better over the years, but people can have a visceral reaction to an interaction they had with a cop 20 years ago that was rude ... at a traffic stop,” he said. “And then you have one officer in (another) part of the United States that abuses their authority and violates the law and hurts another human being.”

Before the spike in assaults on DPD officers in 2023, the next most assaults on DPD officers were 10 in 2020, the year Minneapolis resident George Floyd, a Black man, was killed murdered by a white on-duty Minneapolis Police Department officer. Floyd’s death spurred outrage and protests across the country that continued for months. His killer was sentenced to over 20 years in prison.

Current said a case like Floyd’s should evoke an emotional response, but those emotional responses can be linked to a previous bad interaction with a law enforcement.

DPD’s strategy is to focus on every interaction an officer has with the public. An officer might interact with 20 to 30 people in a given day. Each of those interactions might not seem like much to the officer, but they could be a big deal for the other person.

“We’re not going to be able to meet our mission or our vision or our goals and be able to protect the vulnerable and prevent crime unless people trust us, because trust is our fuel. That’s how we operate. People agree for us to police,” he said. “... The only way they’re going to do that is if they have good interactions with the police.”

cburney@durangoherald.com