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Law Enforcement StatisticsOn this page: Pages with additional information, statistics, and publications about: See Data Online for Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics for State and large local agencies. Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted reports are available from the FBI.
Summary findingsIn 2004 there were more than 800,000 full-time sworn law enforcement officers in the United States |
Type of agency | Number of agencies | Number of full-time sworn officers |
|
---|---|---|---|
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Total | 836,787 | ||
All State and local | 17,876 | 731,903 | |
Local police | 12,766 | 446,974 | |
Sheriff | 3,067 | 175,018 | |
Primary State | 49 | 58,190 | |
Special jurisdiction | 1,481 | 49,398 | |
Constable/Marshal | 513 | 2,323 | |
Federal* | 104,884 | ||
Note:
Special jurisdiction category includes both State-level and local-level
agencies. Consolidated police-sheriffs are included under local police
category. Agency counts exclude those operating on a part-time basis. *Non-military federal officers authorized to carry firearms and make arrests. |
BJS Law enforcement data collections
Law
Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS),
conducted every 3 to 4 years, collects data from over 3,000 State and
local law enforcement agencies, including all those that employ 100 or
more sworn officers and a nationally representative sample of smaller
agencies. Data are obtained on the organization and administration of
police and sheriffs' departments including agency responsibilities, operating
expenditures, job functions of sworn and civilian employees, officer salaries
and special pay, demographic characteristics of officers, weapons and
armor policies, education and training requirements, computers and information
systems, vehicles, special units, and community policing activities. 2003
Sample Survey of Law Enforcement Agencies (CJ-44) (77K) 2000 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CJ-38L), Acrobat file (91K)
Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies provides
data on all State and local law enforcement agencies operating nationwide.
Data collected include the number of sworn and civilian personnel by State
and type of agency. 2000 questionnaire (CJ-38S), Acrobat file (43K) Survey
of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies, provides data describing
nearly 600 campus law enforcement agencies serving U.S. 4-year universities
or colleges with 2,500 or more students. Data are collected on agency
personnel, expenditures and pay, operations, equipment, computers and
information systems, policies, and special programs. Census of Federal
Law Enforcement Officers provides national data on Federal law
enforcement agencies with arrest and firearms authority. Data collected
include the number of officers working in the areas of criminal investigation
and enforcement, police patrol and response, security and protection,
court operations, and corrections, by agency and State. Police-Public Contact Survey
provides detailed information on the nature and characteristics of face-to-face contacts between police and the public, including the reason for and outcome of the contact. Every 3 years, the PPCS interviews a nationally representative sample of more than 60,000 residents age 16 or older as a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. The survey enables BJS to estimate the likelihood of a driver being pulled over in a traffic stop and the percentage of all contacts that involve the use of force by police. Police-Public Contact Survey questionnaire: Acrobat file (169K) State Police Traffic Stop Data Collection Procedures collected data from the Nation's 49 State law enforcement agencies with traffic patrol responsibility about their policies for recording race and ethnicity data for persons in traffic stops. The questionnaire, mailed out in March 2001, obtained basic information on the circumstances under which demographic data were collected for traffic-related stops and whether this information was stored in an electronically accessible format. The data collection was not designed to obtain available agency databases containing traffic-stop records. SSP-1 questionnaire, Acrobat file (52K) Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories
provides national data on publicly operated forensic crime laboratories
that perform DNA analyses. Data collected include personnel, budgets and
expenditures, workloads, equipment, procedures and policies, and data
processing. 2001 questionnaire, Acrobat file (87K) The Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies obtained information on the number and types of staff employed at training facilities, budget, sources of funds, number of officers trained, and policies and practices. In addition to basic organizational data, the survey collected information on training curriculum issues critical to current law enforcement policy development. 2002 questionnaire, Acrobat file (273K) The Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories collects data on staff, budgets, operating procedures, case workloads, training, and resource needs from among the Nation's more than 300 crime labs. This Bureau of Justice Statistics census represents the first national census of crime labs. Census information will be used to better understand the number of cases processed by these labs and the amount of resources required to meet the increased demand for forensic services. In developing and implementing this census, BJS worked closely with the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLAD). The Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices is the first data collection effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to focus on the medico-legal investigation of deaths. Information collected will cover agency personnel, expenditures, functions, workload, and needs. Also to collect agency-level data on the number of unidentified remains held within each system. Findings from the Census will provide a broad picture of the current state of medico-legal investigation in the U.S. Representative datasets. 2005 questionnaire, Acrobat file (152K) Langan, Patrick A. and Matthew R. Durose (BJS statisticians) The Remarkable Drop in Crime in New York City, (Paper presented at the International Conference on Crime, Rome, Italy, December 2003) Hickman, Matthew J. (BJS statistician); Alex R. Piquero, and Jack R, Greene, eds., Police Integrity and Ethics, [Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group, 2004]
Related sitesSee the subtopic pages for additional links
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