U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics ----------------------------------------------------- This report is one in series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all reports in the series go to http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=45 This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.csv) and the full report including tables and graphics in .pdf format are available on BJS website at:http://bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4555 -------------------------------------------------------- Sheriffs’ Offices, 2007 - Statistical Tables Andrea M. Burch, BJS Statistician December 2012, NCJ 238558 As of September 2007, an estimated 3,000 sheriffs’ offices performed law enforcement functions in the United States. Nationally, sheriffs’ offices employed about 369,000 sworn and civilian personnel and operated at a cost of roughly $30 billion. Sheriffs’ offices represented approximately a fifth of the estimated 15,600 general purpose law enforcement agencies operating in the United States during 2007 and employed about a third of all sworn and civilian personnel. Law enforcement agencies are publically funded government entities responsible for enforcing laws and maintaining public order and public safety. Sheriffs’ offices are generally empowered by the state to serve counties and independent cities. Sheriffs’ offices performed a wide range of law enforcement functions, such as response to criminal incidents, response to calls for service, patrol, crime investigation, arrest of criminal suspects, execution of warrants, traffic enforcement, traffic direction and control, accident investigation, drug enforcement, parking enforcement, and crime prevention education. Although sheriffs’ offices may have countywide responsibilities related to jail operation, process serving, and court security, their law enforcement jurisdictions typically exclude county areas served by a local police department. In certain counties, municipalities contract with the sheriffs’ office for law enforcement services. These statistical tables present data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) 2007 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey. The LEMAS survey is a nationally representative sample of state and local law enforcement agencies. It describes sheriffs’ offices with law enforcement duties, including their personnel, budgets, operations, policies and procedures, computers and information systems, and equipment. Approximately 50 sheriffs’ offices identified as performing jail functions or court-related functions or both did not have an area of primary law enforcement jurisdiction. The LEMAS survey has been conducted every 3 to 4 years since 1987. Comparisons are made with prior years where appropriate and as data were available. *************** Highlights *************** ********************************** Sheriffs’ office characteristics ********************************** * As of September 2007, an estimated 3,012 sheriffs’ offices performing law enforcement functions in the United States employed 369,084 sworn and civilian personnel (table 1). * Sworn personnel represented about half (49%) of all those employed by sheriffs’ offices during 2007, including 172,241 full-time and 8,831 part-time personnel. * From 1987 to 2007, the number of full-time employees in sheriffs’ offices increased from about 189,000 to more than 346,000 (figure 1). * Full-time sworn personnel increased by about 43,500 (34%) from 1987 to 2007, and full-time civilian employees nearly tripled—from 60,500 to 174,100. ************************************************* Size of sheriffs’ offices and population served ************************************************* * Nationwide, 57% (1,708) of sheriffs’ offices employed less than 25 sworn personnel (table 2). * While about 1 in 4 sheriffs’ offices employed fewer than 10 deputies, these small agencies accounted for 2.4% of all full-time sworn personnel. * Large agencies (employing 100 or more sworn personnel) represented about 12% of all sheriffs’ offices but employed nearly two-thirds (65%) of all full-time sworn personnel. * About a fifth (35,501) of all full-time sworn personnel were employed by less than 1% of sheriffs’ offices with 1,000 or more sworn personnel. * Although two-thirds of sheriffs’ offices (2,029) served fewer than 50,000 residents, these agencies employed 18% (31,507) of all full-time sworn personnel (table 3). * About half of full-time sworn personnel (84,923) were employed by the 7% of sheriffs’ offices serving jurisdictions with 250,000 or more residents. ********************* Operating budgets ********************* Operating budgets of sheriffs’ offices totaled about $30 billion for fiscal year 2007, which was 20% more than in 2003, after adjusting for inflation (table 4). * Overall, operating budgets averaged about $10 million per sheriffs’ office in 2007, ranging from about $337 million for agencies serving populations of 1 million or more residents to $657,000 for those serving fewer than 10,000 residents. * On average, the operating cost of sheriffs’ offices during fiscal year 2007 was about $170,000 per sworn deputy and $112 per U.S. resident. * During 2006, nearly half (46%) of sheriffs’ offices received money, goods, or property from drug asset forfeiture programs, with more than $230 million in receipts overall (table 5). *************************** Sheriffs’ office salaries *************************** * In 2007, the average starting salary for entry-level sheriffs’ deputies was about $31,000, ranging from $27,800 in the smallest jurisdictions to $45,600 in the largest (table 6). * Minimum salaries for sheriffs averaged $142,700 in jurisdictions with 1 million or more residents, compared to less than $55,000 in jurisdictions with a population of less than 25,000 residents. * Average starting salaries for entry-level deputies were $7,300 (25%) higher in sheriffs’ offices with collective bargaining than in those without it (not shown in table). * Among sheriffs’ offices serving 250,000 or more residents, a majority offered tuition reimbursement and about half offered education incentive pay to their sworn personnel (table 7). ********************************* Personnel selection and hiring ********************************* * Nearly all (99%) sheriffs’ offices had a minimum education requirement for new deputies hired in 2007 (table 8). The most common requirement for new hires was a high school diploma (89%). * In 2007, personal interviews were used almost universally (99%) in the hiring process and were supplemented by psychological evaluations in 62% of agencies, including more than 90% of deputies serving 500,000 or more residents (table 10). * New deputy recruits completed an average requirement of 1,476 hours of classroom and field training in jurisdictions with 1 million or more residents, compared to the 754 hours required in the smallest jurisdictions (table 14). * The vast majority (94%) of sheriffs’ offices had an annual in-service training requirement for nonprobationary deputies. Overall, the average annual in-service requirement was 45 hours (table 15). *************************** Personnel characteristics *************************** * Members of a racial or ethnic minority represented about 1 in 5 sworn personnel employed by sheriffs’ offices during 2007 (table 16). * In 2007, about 9% (15,500) of sworn personnel employed at sheriffs’ offices were black or African American, slightly less than in 2003 (10%), but equal to the proportion employed in 1987. * From 2003 to 2007, the number of Hispanic or Latino deputies increased by 16% to comprise 8% (13,900) of all sworn deputies in 2007. * In 2007, an estimated 12% (20,800) of full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices were women, a percentage similar to that observed in previous LEMAS surveys (table 17). ********************* Patrol and response ********************* * In 2007, an estimated 57% of full-time sheriffs’ deputies had regularly assigned duties that included responding to calls for service (table 18). * The proportion of deputies responding to calls ranged from about 5 in 10 among agencies serving 250,000 or more residents to about 9 in 10 among agencies serving fewer than 10,000 residents. * More than 80% of sheriffs’ offices serving populations of 25,000 or more residents used an enhanced 9-1-1 system capable of displaying a caller’s name, address, and special needs (table 19). * Nearly half (44%) of sheriffs’ offices serving 500,000 or more residents routinely used foot patrol, and about half (between 42% and 63%) of those serving 250,000 or more residents regularly patrolled by boat (table 21). * More than half (57%) of sheriffs’ offices used dogs for law enforcement activities during 2007, while 5% used horses (table 27). *********** Equipment *********** * Two-thirds of sheriffs’ offices (employing 76% of full- time sworn personnel) authorized the use of conducted energy devices, such as tasers and stun guns, compared to 30% of offices (employing 47% of full-time sworn personnel) in 2003 (table 30). * About 57% of sheriffs’ offices (employing 60% of full- time sworn personnel) required use of protective body armor at all times while in the field in 2007 (table 33). * In 2007, 67% of sheriffs’ offices used video cameras in patrol cars, compared to 58% in 2003 (table 34). An estimated 28,600 in-car cameras were in use during 2007— about 11,000 (62%) more than in 2003. *********** Computers *********** * About two-thirds of sheriffs’ offices used computers for dispatch, booking, and investigative purposes in 2007 (table 35). * A majority of the sheriffs’ offices in each population category of 50,000 or more used in-field computers or terminals during 2007, including over 85% of offices serving populations of 100,000 or more residents (table 38). * About 70% of sheriffs’ offices (employing 90% of deputies) had access to an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) (table 42). *************************** Task force participation *************************** * A majority of sheriffs’ offices, including more than 70% of those serving 25,000 or more residents, had sworn personnel assigned to a multi-agency drug task force in 2007 (table 49). * Over half of sheriffs’ offices serving 500,000 or more residents had sworn personnel assigned to a gang task force (table 50). ************************************************* *************** List of Tables *************** *********************************** Sheriffs’ office characteristics *********************************** Table 1. General purpose state and local law enforcement agencies sworn and civilian personnel, by employment status and type of agency, 2007 6 *********************************************** Size of sheriffs’ offices and population served *********************************************** Table 2. Sheriffs’ offices and full-time personnel, by number of sworn personnel, 2007 6 Table 3. Sheriffs’ offices and full-time personnel, by size of population served, 2007 6 ******************* Operating budgets ******************* Table 4. Annual operating budget of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 7 Table 5. Drug asset forfeiture receipts of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2006 7 *************************** Sheriffs’ office salaries *************************** Table 6. Average base annual salary for selected full-time positions in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 7 Table 7. Special pay and benefits for full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 8 ******************************* Personnel selection and hiring ******************************* Table 8. Education requirements for new deputies in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 8 Table 9. Background and record check methods used in selection of new deputy recruits in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 8 Table 10. Personal attribute screening methods used in the selection of new deputy recruits in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 9 Table 11. Physical attribute screening methods used in the selection of new deputy recruits in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 9 Table 12. Screening methods related to community policing used in the selection of new deputy recruits for sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 9 Table 13. Workplace policies of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 10 Table 14. Training requirements for new deputy recruits in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 10 Table 15. In-service training requirements for sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 10 **************************** Personnel characteristics **************************** Table 16. Race and ethnicity of full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 10 Table 17. Sex of full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 11 ******************* Patrol and response ******************* Table 18. Sheriffs’ deputies assigned to respond to calls for service, by size of population served, 2007 11 Table 19. Emergency 9-1-1 system participation of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 11 Table 20. Wireless capabilities of emergency 9-1-1 systems in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 11 Table 21. Types of regularly scheduled patrols other than automobile used by sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 12 Table 22. Special population and situational policies of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 12 Table 23. Number of motorized land vehicles operated by sheriffs’ offices and percent unmarked, by size of population served, 2007 12 Table 24. Motorized vehicles operated by sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 113 Table 25. Vehicle use policies for sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 13 Table 26. Off-land vehicles operated by sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 13 Table 27. Use of animals by sheriffs’ offices for law enforcement purposes, by size of population served, 2007 13 *********** Equipment *********** Table 28. Types of sidearms authorized for use by sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 13 Table 29. Types of batons authorized for use by sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 14 Table 30. Less-than-lethal weapons authorized for use by a majority of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 14 Table 31. Less-than-lethal weapons or actions authorized for use by fewer than half of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 14 Table 32. Use-of-force policies and procedures in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 14 Table 33. Body armor requirements for field officers in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 15 Table 34. Use of video cameras by sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 15 ************ Computers ************ Table 35. General functions of computers in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 15 Table 36. Analytic functions of computers in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 16 Table 37. Types of in-field computers or terminals used by sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 16 Table 38. Use of in-field computers or terminals by sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 16 Table 39. Use of in-field computers for reports and communications by sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 16 Table 40. Types of computerized information accessible to in-field deputies in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 17 Table 41. Methods used by sheriffs’ offices for transmitting criminal incident reports to a central information system, by size of population served, 200 17 Table 42. Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 17 ************************** Task force participation ************************** Table 43. Community policing policies of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 18 Table 44. Community policing training for new deputy recruits in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 18 Table 45. Community-oriented policies for patrol officers in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 18 Table 46. Community policing activities of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 18 Table 47. Full-time community policing officers and units in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 19 Table 48. Full-time school resource officers in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 19 Table 49. Drug task force participation of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 19 Table 50. Gang task force participation of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 19 Table 51. Human trafficking task force participation of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 20 Table 52. Anti-terrorism task force participation of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 20 Table 53. Preparedness activities of sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 20 Table 54. Full-time intelligence personnel in sheriffs’ offices with primary duties related to terrorist activities, by size of population served, 2007 20 **************** Appendix tables **************** Appendix Table 1. Fifty largest sheriffs’ offices in the United States, by number of full-time sworn personnel, 2007 23 Appendix Table 2. Standard errors of the estimated percentages for sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2007 24 Appendix Table 3. Standard errors for estimated personnel counts in sheriffs’ offices, 2007 24 Appendix table 4. Standard errors for estimated operating budgets in sheriffs’ offices, 2007 24 Appendix Table 5. Standard errors for starting salaries for entry-level deputies in sheriffs’ offices, 2007 24 ************ Methodology ************ The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) conducts the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey every 3 to 4 years. The LEMAS survey is a nationally representative sample of state and local law enforcement agencies. Each agency received either a long (CJ-44L) or short (CJ-44S) LEMAS questionnaire. The two versions of the LEMAS questionnaire differ by nine items that apply primarily to large agencies. The survey was fielded from December 2007 through December 2008. Sample design Based on employment data from BJS’s Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) conducted in 2004, the original 2007 LEMAS survey sample included 3,224 state and local law enforcement agencies. (For more information, see Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2004, BJS website, NCJ 212749, June 2007.) The sample was designed to be representative of all general purpose state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States, with separate samples drawn for local police departments and sheriffs’ offices. Agencies serving special jurisdictions (such as schools, airports, or parks) or with special enforcement responsibilities (such as hunting and fishing laws or alcohol laws) were considered out of scope for the survey. Sheriffs’ offices without primary law enforcement jurisdiction were also considered out of scope for the survey. Approximately 50 sheriffs’ offices identified as performing jail functions or court-related functions or both did not have an area of primary law enforcement jurisdiction. These agencies were excluded from this report because this publication focuses entirely on factors related to law enforcement. In addition, some smaller sheriffs’ offices were determined to have closed since the 2004 CSLLEA and were removed from the sample. After all out-of-scope and closed agencies were removed, the final sample size for the survey was 3,095. The final sample included 950 self-representing (SR) agencies with 100 or more sworn personnel and 2,145 non-self-representing (NSR) agencies employing fewer than 100 personnel. The SR agencies included 591 local police departments, 310 sheriffs’ offices, and 49 state law enforcement agencies. All 950 SR agencies received the 49-item CJ-44L questionnaire. The NSR agencies were selected using a stratified random sample with cells based on the number of sworn personnel. The NSR agencies were selected using a simple random sample. Overall, the NSR sample included 1,504 local police departments and 641 sheriffs’ offices. All 2,145 NSR agencies received the 40- item CJ-44S questionnaire. ******************** Agency response rate ********************* A total of 2,804 agencies (91.8%) completed their LEMAS questionnaire. This included 879 SR agencies (92.5%) and 1,961 NSR agencies (91.4%). The response rate for local police departments was 93.9%; for sheriffs’ offices, it was 87.0%; and for state law enforcement agencies, it was 91.8%. The final database included full responses from 1,968 local police departments, 827 sheriffs’ offices, and 45 state agencies. As part of a final nonresponse follow- up effort, an additional 21 local police departments and 14 sheriffs’ offices completed an abbreviated questionnaire consisting of the first page of the original survey form they received. ************* Weighting ************* In order to compare agencies with others serving similarly sized jurisdictions, this report presents statistics mainly by categories of population served. Additional overall percentages weighted by the number of officers employed are presented in the text and selected figures. The base weight for all SR sheriffs’ offices is 1. For NSR sheriffs’ offices, the base weight is 4.22. For NSR sheriffs’ offices, the base weight is determined by the number of sworn personnel employed as reported in the 2004 CSLLEA. The final weight associated with every agency (both SR and NSR) is the product of the base weight—a factor that adjusts for changes in the universe since 2004, and a factor that adjusts for any nonresponding agencies in each cell. For SR sheriffs’ offices, the final weight is 1.12; and for NSR sheriffs’ offices, it is 4.90. To compute the deputy-based percentages in the report, the final weight for an agency is multiplied by the proportion of all full-time equivalent sworn officers employed by that agency. The number of full-time equivalent sworn officers is defined as the sum of the number of full-time sworn officers and half the number of part-time sworn officers. ******************* Item nonresponse ******************* For the 827 sheriffs’ offices completing one of the two versions of the LEMAS questionnaire, item nonresponse rates due to omission or invalid data were low. For most categorical items, the nonresponse rate was 0%. Nonresponse is noted in tables when the percent of missing cases is greater than 1%. ************* Imputations ************* When an agency did not supply a response to a numeric item, median value imputation or ratio imputation was used. The median value imputations used the median value of an item reported in the 2007 survey by other agencies in the same sample cell. The ratio imputations used the median value of a ratio reported in the 2007 survey by other agencies in the same sample cell. Imputations were not used for categorical items. For race and sex data, a cold-deck imputation process was used. The percentages represented in an agency’s sworn personnel totals by each racial or ethnic or sex group in the 2003 LEMAS survey were applied to the 2007 sworn personnel totals. If 2003 data were not available, then a ratio imputation method was used. ************************** Accuracy of the estimates ************************** The accuracy of the estimates presented in this report depends on two types of error: sampling and nonsampling. Because sampling was used for smaller agencies, some of the statistics presented in this report are subject to sampling error. Sampling error is the variation that may occur by chance because a sample rather than a complete enumeration of the population was conducted. Nonsampling error can be attributed to many sources, such as the inability to obtain information about all cases in the sample, the inability to obtain complete and correct information from the administrative records, and processing errors. In any survey, the full extent of the nonsampling error is never known. The sampling error, as measured by an estimated standard error, varies by the size of the estimate and the size of the base population. Statements of comparison have been tested at the 95%-confidence level. Estimates of the standard errors have been calculated for the 2007 survey (appendix table 2). These estimates may be used to construct confidence intervals around percentages in this report. For example, the 95%-confidence interval around the percentage of sheriffs’ offices requiring deputies to wear protective armor at all times is approximately 3% (1.96 multiplied by 1.7%). These standard errors may also be used to test the significance of the difference between two sample statistics by pooling the standard errors of the two sample estimates. For example, the standard error of the difference between departments serving fewer than 10,000 residents and those serving 10,000 to 24,999 residents for enhanced 9-1-1 would be 4.7% (or the square root of the sum of the squared standard errors for each group). The 95%-confidence interval around the difference would be 1.96 multiplied by 4.7% (or 9.3%). Since the difference of 15% (77% minus 62%) is greater than 9.3%, the difference would be considered statistically significant. Standard error estimates may also be used to construct confidence intervals around numeric variables, such as personnel counts (appendix table 3). For example, the 95%- confidence interval around the number of full-time sworn personnel is approximately 172,241 plus or minus 1.96 multiplied by 4,243 or 163,925 to 180,557. --------------------------- Abbreviated form responses --------------------------- In the final phase of the data collection, all remaining nonrespondents were given the opportunity to complete an abbreviated questionnaire consisting of the first page of the original survey form they received. A total of 21 local police departments (5 SR and 16 NSR) and 14 sheriffs’ offices (0 SR and 14 NSR) completed the abbreviated form. For analysis of the data that included these partial-form responses, slightly different weights were used. The adjusted partial-form weight for NSR sheriffs’ offices is 4.78. -------------------------------------- Dollar amounts adjusted for inflation -------------------------------------- For comparison purposes, salary and budget data for 2003 were converted into 2007 dollars. This conversion was accomplished using Consumer Price Index data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ****************************************************** The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. James P. Lynch is the director. This Statistical Tables report was written by Andrea M. Burch. Alexia Cooper provided verification. Morgan Young, Vanessa Curto, and Jill Thomas edited the report, and Tina Dorsey produced the report, under the supervision of Doris J. James. December 2012, NCJ 238558 ****************************************************** ****************************************************** Office of Justice Programs * Innovation * Partnerships * Safer Neighborhoods * http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov ****************************************************** ______________________ 11/28/12/JER/3:35pm