The Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey collects data from a nationally representative sample of state and local law enforcement agencies, in the United States. For most questions, a reference date of January 1, 2013 was used.

The 2013 LEMAS sample design called for the survey questionnaire to be sent to 3,336 general purpose state and local law enforcement agencies including 2,353 local police departments, 933 sheriffs’ offices, and the 50 primary state law enforcement agencies. The design called for all agencies employing 100 or sworn personnel to be included with certainty (self-representing) and for smaller agencies to be sampled from strata based on number of officers employed.

A total of 26 local police departments were determined to be out-of-scope for the survey because they had closed, outsourced their operations, or were operating on a part-time basis. A total of 38 sheriffs’ offices were excluded from the survey because they had no primary law enforcement jurisdiction. The final mailout total of 3,272 agencies included 2,327 local police departments, 895 sheriffs’ offices, and the 50 state agencies.

A total of 2,822 agencies responded to the LEMAS questionnaire for a response rate of 86%. The final database includes responses from 2,059 local police departments, 717 sheriffs' offices, and 46 state law enforcement agencies. The overall response rate for local police departments was 88%; for sheriffs' offices, 80%; and for state law enforcement agencies, 92%.