NCJ Number
175712
Date Published
1999
Length
7 pages
Annotation
As of June 1997, there were more than 700 general-purpose State and local law enforcement agencies with 100 or more full- time sworn personnel that included 50 or more uniformed officers responding to calls for service.
Abstract
These larger agencies collectively employed about 381,000 full-time sworn personnel, including about 226,000 officers assigned to respond to calls for service. Nearly all agencies provided data in response to the 1997 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Survey respondents included 454 municipal police departments, 167 county sheriff departments, 30 county police departments, and the 49 primary State law enforcement agencies operating in each State except Hawaii. Larger municipal police departments employed an average of 23 full-time officers per 10,000 residents; corresponding figures for county police departments and county sheriff departments were 13 and 12 per 100,000 residents, respectively. Between 1993 and 1997, the median agency increase in the number of full-time sworn personnel was 13 percent, 9 percent, and 4 percent for county sheriff departments, county and municipal police departments, and State police agencies, respectively. County sheriffs employed a higher average percentage of female officers than county, municipal, and State police. Nearly all law enforcement agencies with 100 or more officers screened applicants for sworn positions using personal interviews, background investigations, criminal and driving record checks, and medical exams. About 80 percent of county and municipal police departments had full-time community policing officers. Statistics are provided on law enforcement operations, expenditures and pay, equipment, computers and information systems, and policies and programs. 2 tables and 5 figures