The
Department of the Interior (DOI) was established in 1849 and is now the nation’s
principal conservation agency. The agency has over 67,000 employees and 236,000
volunteers located at approximately 2,400 operating locations across the United
States, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, and freely associated states.
There
are five bureaus and two offices in the Department which manage nine separate
and distinct law enforcement programs. The oldest bureau is the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) which was transferred from the War Department
in 1849. The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) was created in 1902 and the National
Park Service (NPS) followed in 1916. 
The
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was created in 1940 and the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) in 1946. The Office of Law Enforcement, Security, and Emergency
Management was established in 2002 after the September 11th terrorist attacks
in 2001.
The
Department of the Interior has a long and proud history of law enforcement
in the protection of our nation’s lands and resources, the public who
uses them, and the employees who manage them. The oldest law enforcement program
in the Department is the United States Park Police which predates the establishment
of both the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior. US Park
Police Officers were originally designated as Park Watchmen in 1791 by President
George Washington.
Please
consider a law enforcement career with the Department of the Interior if
you are interested in the protection and management of the rich and precious
heritage of this country to the benefit of the American people.
