U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

2015 Survey of Law Enforcement Personnel in Schools (SLEPS)

Award Information

Award #
2014-CK-BX-K044
Funding Category
Competitive Discretionary
Congressional District
Status
Closed
Funding First Awarded
2014
Total funding (to date)
$1,924,999

Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2014, $999,999)

The 2015 Survey of Law Enforcement Personnel in Schools (SLEPS) is a new data collection focused on the activities, roles, and responsibilities of law enforcement agencies and personnel who have responsibilities for interacting with and working in K-12 public schools. The motivation for the SLEPS was BJS and NIJ's recognition of the limitations of the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) and the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) surveys. The CSLLEA is conducted every four years and provides national data on the number of state and local law enforcement agencies and employees for local police departments, sheriffs' offices, state law enforcement agencies, and special jurisdiction agencies. The LEMAS collects data from a nationally representative sample of publicly funded state and local law enforcement agencies. Both the CSLLEA and LEMAS obtain information from law enforcement agencies about the number of officers working in schools but do not ask further details, such as the roles, responsibilities, and activities of these officers. The SLEPS aims to fill a gap in the current statistics by focusing on the responsibilities, functions, and impact of law enforcement personnel working in a school environment. The primary goals of the SLEPS are to - (1) identify a national roster of active law enforcement agencies that have law enforcement personnel operating in some capacity in U.S. K-12 public schools, and (2) generate detailed, accurate, and reliable national statistics describing the scope, size, characteristics, and functions of law enforcement personnel that work and interact in a school environment.

(CA/NCF)

Date Created: September 16, 2014