Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies

Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS 
Advance for Release at 5 P.M. EDT  
Friday, July 2, 1993                           
202-307-0784
 
     The nation's more than 17,000 state and local
 police and sheriff's departments had 840,647 
full-time employees as of June 30, 1992, the 
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced
 today. BJS, a Department of Justice agency, 
said 603,465 of these men and women (or 72 
percent) were sworn officers with general 
arrest authority and 237,182 (28 percent) 
were non-sworn civilian employees.

     "These same state and local law enforcement 
agencies also employed about 90,000 part-timers, 
including 39,200 part-time sworn officers," noted 
acting BJS director Lawrence A. Greenfeld.

     "During the last six years the number of 
civilian personnel in police and sheriff's 
departments has grown about twice as fast as 
the number of sworn officers, " Greenfeld said. 
"Between 1986 and 1992, total full-time employment 
in police and sheriff's agencies grew by 17 percent. 
This included a 13 percent increase in the number 
of full-time sworn officers and a 28 percent 
increase in civilian
personnel."

     Among law enforcement agencies, sheriff's 
departments had the largest gains--28 percent 
more full-time officers and 48 percent more 
full-time civilians than in 1986. Such growth 
may have been the result of increases in local 
jail populations--between 1986 and 1992 the 
number of local jail inmates increased more 
than 50 percent. Most sheriff's departments
operate jails and provide courtroom security
in addition to law enforcement functions.  
Last year 81 percent of the nation's sheriff's 
offices operated jails, compared to 4 percent 
of the local police departments and none of the 
state police agencies.

     Idaho and Louisiana were the only states in 
which at least half of all full-time law enforcement 
officers were in sheriff's departments.

     BJS said that as of June 30, 1992, there were
 17,360 state and local law enforcement agencies, 
of which 12,504 were local general purpose, 49 
state police (each state except Hawaii), These 
special police agencies (60,926 full-time employees, 
of which 41,371 were sworn officers), included
airport, part, transit, school, housing and 
public college and university police departments.

     General purpose local police agencies had 
476,193 full-time employees last year (373,024 
or 78 percent sworn), sheriff's departments had 
224,958 (136,090 or 61 percent sworn) and state 
police agencies had 78,570 (52,980 or 67
percent sworn).

     The 25 largest agencies and the number 
of their full-time employees and sworn officers 
were:
 
New York City.................35,753   (28,812)sworn
Chicago.......................15,008   (12,605)
Los Angeles County Sheriff....11,771   ( 7,960)
Los Angeles (City)............10,710   ( 7,900)
Philadelphia.................. 7,221   ( 6,347)
Calif. State Highway Patrol... 8,894   ( 6,062)
Washington, D.C. (City)....... 5,750   ( 4,889)
Cook County (ILL.) Sheriff.... 5,620   ( 4,801)
New York City Transit......... 4,766   ( 4,409)
Houston....................... 6,038   ( 4,262)
Pennsylvania State Police..... 5,232   ( 4,075)
New York State Police......... 4,684   ( 4,013)
Detroit....................... 4,463   ( 3,852)
Dallas........................ 3,678   ( 2,878)
Baltimore..................... 3,352   ( 2,822)
Texas (state)................. 5,605   ( 2,789)
Harris County (Texas) Sheriff. 3,223   ( 2,731)
Nassau County (New York)...... 3,844   ( 2,717)
New York City Schools......... 3,000   ( 2,700)
New Jersey State Police....... 3,550   ( 2,572)
Metro-Dade County (Florida)... 3,607   ( 2,512)
New York City Housing......... 2,754   ( 2,481)
Suffolk County (New York)..... 2,830   ( 2,328)
Massachusetts State Police.... 2,579   ( 2,070)
Milwaukee..................... 2,566   ( 2,063)

     Nationwide there were 24 full-time officers 
for every 10,000 residents, of whom 15 were local 
police officers, 5 sheriff's officers, 2 state 
police officers and 2 special police officers. 
Excluding the nation's capital, which had 89
sworn officers per 10,000 residents, New York 
State had the highest per capita ratio of 
full-time sworn officers to residents among 
the states--38 per 10,000 inhabitants-followed
by Louisiana (34), New Jersey(34), Illinois (31) 
and Massachusetts (27).

     Single copies of the "Census of State and 
Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 1992" (NCJ-142972) 
as well as other BJS statistical bulletins and 
reports may be obtained from the National 
Criminal Justice Reference Service, Box 6000,
Rockville, MD  20850. The telephone number is 
1-800-732-3277.

     Data from the tables and graphs used in 
many BJS reports can be made available to news 
organizations in spreadsheet files on 5 1/4" 
and 3 1/2" diskettes by calling (202)-307-0784.

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Owning Topic : T=BJS Press Releases - 93 E= 265 Type = e