Police Employees
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User's note
Because of law enforcement’s differing service requirements and functions as well as the
varied demographic traits and characteristics of jurisdictions, use caution when drawing
comparisons between agency staffing levels based upon police employment data from
the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. The data merely reflect existing staffing
levels and are not preferred officer strengths recommended by the FBI. In addition, it
must be remembered that the totals given for sworn officers for any particular agency
reflect not only the patrol officers on the street but also officers assigned to various other
duties, such as those in administrative and investigative positions as well as those
assigned to special teams.
Data collection
- Each year, law enforcement agencies across the United States report the number
of sworn law enforcement officers and civilians in their agencies as of October 31
to the UCR Program.
- Civilian employees include full-time personnel such as clerks, radio dispatchers,
meter attendants, stenographers, jailers, correctional officers, and mechanics.
Overview
- In 2006, sworn officers accounted for 69.2 percent of all law enforcement personnel. (Based on Table 74.)
- The rate of full-time law enforcement employees (civilian and sworn) per 1,000 inhabitants in the Nation for 2006 was 3.5; the rate of sworn officers was 2.4 per 1,000. (Based on Table 74.) The UCR Program computes these rates by taking the number of employees, dividing by the population of the agency's jurisdiction, and multiplying by 1,000.
- Female employees accounted for 61.6 percent of all full-time civilian law enforcement employees in 2006.
- Males accounted for 88.2 percent of all full-time sworn law enforcement officers in 2006.