U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics

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This report is one in a series. More recent editions 
may be available. To view a list of all in the series 
go to http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=45
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Bulletin
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Sheriffs’ Office Personnel, 1993–2013
**************************************** 

Andrea M. Burch, BJS Statistician
**********************************

On January 1, 2013, an estimated 3,012 sheriffs’ offices employed 
352,000 full-time sworn and civilian personnel to perform a variety 
of law enforcement, jail, and court-related duties nationwide (figure 1). 
This total included 189,000 sworn officers (those with general arrest 
powers) and 163,000 nonsworn or civilian employees. Growth among 
full-time civilian employees had outpaced growth among sworn personnel 
from 1993 to 2007. However, that trend reversed between 2007 and 2013 
when the number of full-time sworn officers increased by 16,700 (up 10%) 
and the number of civilian employees decreased by 11,100 (down 6%).

This report presents data on persons employed by the nation’s sheriffs’ 
offices and employment trends from 1993 to 2013. Data are from the 
Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) Law Enforcement Management and 
Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey. BJS conducts the survey 
periodically among a nationally representative sample of general purpose 
state and local law enforcement agencies. ***Footnote 1 General purpose 
law enforcement agencies include municipal, county, and tribal police 
departments; most sheriffs’ offices; and primary state law enforcement 
agencies. It excludes special purpose agencies (e.g., those with 
jurisdiction in parks, schools, airports, subways, hospitals, 
housing authorities, and government buildings) and sheriffs’ 
offices without law enforcement responsibilities***.

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HIGHLIGHTS
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* During 2013, sheriffs’ offices accounted for a fifth (20%) of the 
nation’s 15,400 general purpose state and local law enforcement agencies.

* Sheriffs’ offices employed about a third (34%) of all full-time general 
purpose law enforcement personnel during 2013.

* About 189,000 (54%) full-time sheriffs’ office employees were sworn 
officers, making up about a quarter (26%) of all full-time general 
purpose law enforcement personnel in 2013.

* Between 2007 and 2013, the number of full-time sworn personnel 
in sheriffs’ offices increased by 10%, while civilian personnel decreased 
by 6%.

* In 2013, about 14% of full-time sworn officers in sheriffs’ offices 
were female compared to 12% in 2007.

* Nationally, about 12% of first-line supervisors in sheriffs’ 
offices were female in 2013.

* From 2007 to 2013, minority personnel among full-time officers 
in sheriffs’ offices increased by more than 7,000 (up 22%), 
from 32,700 to 40,100 officers.

* For the first time, Hispanic or Latino officers made up the largest 
minority group (11%) of full-time sworn officers employed 
by sheriffs’ offices in 2013.

* Full-time sworn officers who were Asian, Native Hawaiian, 
or Other Pacific Islanders; or American Indian or Alaska Natives 
increased from 1.1% in 1993 to 2.0% in 2013. 
**********************************************************

The survey collects information on personnel, budgets, operations, 
policies, equipment, and information systems. This report presents 
personnel data from the 2013 LEMAS, the most recent data available, 
and makes comparisons with data from prior years where appropriate. 
Sheriffs’ offices are local law enforcement agencies typically 
organized at the county level and directed by a sheriff, who is usually 
an elected official. Like municipal police departments, sheriffs’ 
offices perform a wide range of law enforcement functions, 
including responding to criminal incidents and calls for service. 
Sheriffs’ offices also typically operate local jails and provide 
court-related services which are functions that set them apart from 
most municipal police departments. Although sheriffs’ offices may 
have countywide jail and court-related responsibilities, their 
law enforcement jurisdiction may exclude county areas served 
by county or municipal police departments.

*****************************************
About a quarter of general purpose 
state and local law enforcement officers
worked for sheriffs’ offices
*****************************************

In 2013, sheriffs’ offices made up a fifth (20%) of general
purpose state and local law enforcement agencies operating
in the United States and employed about a third (34%) of all
full-time personnel, including about a quarter (26%) of the
nation’s sworn personnel and about half (51%) of all civilian
employees (figure 2). Sworn personnel accounted for 54% of
full-time personnel employed by sheriffs’ offices, compared to
79% of full-time staff in local police departments (appendix
table 1).

Sheriffs’ offices employed 5,600 more full-time sworn and
civilian employees in 2013 than in 2007 (up 1.6%) (table 1).
While growth in the number of full-time sworn personnel in
sheriffs’ offices has slowed in recent years, the total number
of full-time employees increased by 57% (127,700 employees)
since 1993.

Much of the increase in full-time sheriffs’ office personnel
can be attributed to the increase in the number of civilian
employees hired since 1993. From 1993 to 2013, the number of
full-time sworn personnel increased by 21% (up 33,100), and
the number of full-time civilian employees increased by 138%
(up 94,500).

The largest change in the number of full-time employees of
sheriffs’ offices occurred between 1993 and 1997, when the
number of full-time employees increased by 18% (up 39,200).
The overall increase in full-time employment was driven by
a 12% increase (up 18,900) in sworn personnel and a 30%
increase (up 20,300) in civilian employees.

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More full-time sworn personnel were 
employed in 2013 than in previous years
*****************************************

From 2007 to 2013, the number of full-time sworn personnel
increased by 16,700 employees (up 10%). Sheriffs’ offices
employed more sworn personnel in 2013 than in the previous
two decades, an increase of 14,700 (up 8%) since 2003 and
about 33,100 (up 21%) since 1993.

While the number of full-time sworn personnel increased
from 2007 to 2013, the number of full-time civilian employees
decreased by 11,100 (down 6%). The percentage of full-time
sheriffs’ office positions occupied by civilian employees grew
from 31% in 1993 to 50% in 2007 before decreasing to 46%
in 2013.

From 1993 to 2007, growth among full-time civilian employees
of sheriffs’ offices outpaced growth among full-time sworn
personnel. Civilian employment grew the most between 1997
and 2000 (up 40,400 full-time employees or 45%). During the
same time, the number of full-time sworn personnel decreased
by 10,000 (down 6%), the largest decrease in sworn personnel
from 1993 to 2013.

*****************************************
The number of part-time sworn personnel 
increased for the first time since 1993
*****************************************

From 2007 to 2013, the number of part-time sworn and
civilian personnel employed by sheriffs’ offices increased
from 22,700 to 25,200 employees (up 11%). As with full-time
employment, the overall number of part-time personnel
increased despite an 8% decrease in the number of civilian
employees, from 13,900 in 2007 to 12,800 in 2013.

The number of part-time sworn personnel employed by
sheriffs’ offices declined each time the LEMAS survey was
administered, from 11,000 in 1993 to 8,800 in 2007. This trend
was reversed when the number of part-time sworn personnel
increased by 3,500 to approximately 12,400 in 2013 (up 40%).
Sheriffs’ offices employed more part-time sworn personnel in
2013 than in the two previous decades. From 2007 to 2013,
growth among part-time sworn personnel outpaced growth
among full-time sworn officers and represented the largest
increase in personnel by employment type.

*****************************************
There were fewer small sheriffs’ offices 
in 2013 than in previous years
*****************************************

Agencies that employed the full-time equivalent of 24 or fewer
sworn personnel made up a smaller proportion of sheriffs’
offices in 2013 (51%) than in 2007 (57%) (appendix table 3).
***Footnote 2 The size of a sheriffs’ office is described in terms 
of the number of fulltime equivalent sworn positions rather than 
the number of full-time sworn positions in order to take part-time 
sworn personnel into account when measuring agency size***. 
From 2007 to 2013, the number of sheriffs’ offices employing 
the equivalent of 24 or fewer full-time sworn officers decreased 
from 1,708 to 1,542 (down 10%) (figure 3). Sheriffs’ offices 
employing 24 or fewer full-time equivalent sworn officers made 
up 62% of all sheriffs’ offices in 1993. ***Footnote 3 See 
Sheriffs’ Departments 1993, NCJ 148823, BJS web, June 1996***.

While the number of large agencies increased overall from
2007 to 2013, the largest percent increase occurred in sheriffs’
offices employing the equivalent of 500 or more sworn
personnel. These agencies increased from 40 offices in 2007
to 50 offices in 2013 (up 25%). Agencies employing between
25 and 99 full-time equivalent sworn personnel increased by
15%, from 952 offices in 2007 to 1,099 offices in 2013.

*****************************************
Most sheriffs’ office personnel were 
employed by large agencies
*****************************************

Twelve percent of sheriffs’ offices employed the full-time
equivalent of 100 or more sworn personnel in 2013 (table 2).
These large agencies employed 65% each of full-time sworn 
personnel (123,700) and full-time civilian employees
(105,400). The proportion of full-time sworn personnel
employed by these large offices in 2013 was about the same as
in 1993 (66%) and 2007 (65%) (not shown).

An estimated 16 sheriffs’ offices employed the full-time
equivalent of 1,000 or more sworn personnel in 2013. These
agencies made up less than 1% of all sheriffs’ offices and
employed about 37,500 (20%) full-time sworn officers. The Los
Angeles County Sheriffs’ Department was the largest sheriffs’
office in 2013 with 16,958 full-time employees, including 9,266
sworn officers (not shown).

About half (51%) of sheriffs’ offices employed the full-time
equivalent of 24 or fewer sworn employees and 9% of all
full-time sworn personnel were employed by these agencies.
Sheriffs’ offices that employed between 10 and 24 full-time
equivalent sworn personnel made up 30% of sheriffs’ offices
and employed 7% of full-time sworn sheriffs’ personnel. Two
percent of full-time sheriffs’ officers worked in an agency with
the equivalent of nine or fewer sworn personnel. Compared
to the more than 600 local police departments employing the
equivalent of one full-time position, an estimated six sheriffs’
offices employed the equivalent of one officer in 2013.
***Footnote 4 See Local Police Departments, 2013: Personnel, 
Polices, and Practices, NCJ 248677, BJS web, May 2015***.

*****************************************
About two-thirds of officers were employed 
by sheriffs’ offices serving 100,000 or 
more residents
*****************************************

In 2013, 1% of sheriffs’ offices served jurisdictions with a
population of 1 million or more residents (table 3). These
agencies employed about 45,900 full-time sworn personnel
(24%). In comparison, these offices employed 20% of sworn
personnel in 1993.

About 500 (17%) sheriffs’ offices served a resident population
of 100,000 or more. As in previous LEMAS surveys, sheriffs’
offices serving 100,000 or more residents employed 67% of
full-time sworn personnel. Nearly half (49%) of sheriffs’ offices
served populations of between 10,000 and 49,999 residents and
employed 18% of officers. Twenty-one percent (628) of sheriffs’
offices served jurisdictions with 9,999 or fewer residents and
employed about 3% of sworn personnel.

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The number of officers increased by 52% 
in sheriffs’ offices with 500 to 999 
sworn personnel from 2007 to 2013
*****************************************


From 1993 to 2013, the number of full-time sworn personnel
in sheriffs’ offices increased 21%, from 155,800 to 189,000.
With the exception of sheriffs’ offices employing the full-time
equivalent of 24 or fewer officers, increases in the number
of full-time sworn personnel occurred in all other agency
size categories.

The largest overall increase from 1993 to 2013 in sworn
personnel occurred among sheriffs’ offices employing between
the equivalent of 25 and 99 full-time sworn officers, increasing
from 35,300 in 1993 to 49,000 in 2013 (up 39%) (figure 4).
Agencies of this size made up about 37% of all sheriffs’ offices
and employed about 26% of all full-time officers in 2013.

Between 2007 and 2013, the largest increase in the number
of full-time sworn personnel occurred among sheriffs’ offices
employing the full-time equivalent of between 500 and 999
sworn officers, increasing from about 14,400 to 21,800 officers
(up 52%) (appendix table 4). Sheriffs’ offices with the full-time
equivalent of 25 or more sworn personnel employed more
full-time and part-time sworn officers in 2013 than in 2007.

Among sheriffs’ offices employing the full-time equivalent
of 24 or fewer officers, the number of full-time officers was
17,900 in 2007 and was 16,300 in 2013; this difference is not
statistically significant. During the same period, the number
of part-time sworn officers in these agencies increased by 60%
from an estimated 2,100 to 3,300. In 2013, these small sheriffs’
offices employed 9% of full-time sworn personnel and 27% of
all part-time officers.

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About 14% of full-time sworn sheriffs’ 
office personnel were female in 2013
*****************************************

In 2013, about 26,100 (14%) of the full-time sworn personnel
in sheriffs’ offices were female (figure 5). In comparison,
females made up 16% of full-time sworn officers employed in
sheriffs’ offices in 1997 and 12% in 2007. Between 1993 and
2013, the number of full-time female officers employed by
sheriffs’ offices increased by about 3,400. From 2007 to 2013,
full-time female officers employed by sheriffs’ offices increased
by 5,300 (up 25%) to 26,100.

Since 2003, sheriffs’ offices serving jurisdictions of 100,000 or
more residents have employed a higher percentage of full-time
female officers than offices serving populations of 99,999 or
fewer residents. While larger jurisdictions continued to employ
a greater percentage of full-time female officers than smaller
jurisdictions in 2013, the biggest increase in female officers
from 2007 to 2013 occurred among sheriffs’ offices serving
populations of 49,999 or fewer residents (not shown).

In 2013, the percentage of full-time sworn female officers
varied slightly across population sizes, ranging from about
16% in jurisdictions serving 1 million or more residents
to about 11% in jurisdictions serving between 10,000 and
24,999 residents (appendix table 6).

*****************************************
Females held 12% of full-time first-line 
Supervisory positions in 2013
*****************************************

For the first time in 2013, the LEMAS survey collected data
on the full-time sworn female personnel in supervisory
and managerial positions. About 12% of full-time first-line
supervisory positions were held by females in 2013 (table 4).
The percentage of females working in full-time first-line
supervisory positions was less than that among full-time sworn
personnel overall (14%).

Sheriffs’ offices serving 100,000 or more residents employed
a higher percentage of full-time female first-line supervisors
and full-time sworn female officers than offices serving 99,000
or fewer residents. The largest jurisdictions (those serving
populations of 500,000 or more residents) were more likely
to employ a female sheriff than jurisdictions of other sizes.
Overall, an estimated 1% of sheriffs were female, including
about 7% of the sheriffs in jurisdictions serving 500,000 or
more residents.

*****************************************
More Hispanic officers were employed 
than any other minority group in 2013
*****************************************

In 2013, 22% of full-time sworn sheriffs’ personnel were
members of a racial or Hispanic minority, compared to 19%
in 2003 and 17% in 1993 (figure 6). Much of the increase in
minority personnel employed by sheriffs’ offices from 1993
to 2013 was due to the increase in Hispanic officers. The
proportion of Hispanic officers grew from 6% of full-time
sworn sheriffs’ employees in 1993 to 11% in 2013. In
comparison, the proportion of black officers did not change
significantly between 1993 (10%) and 2013 (9%).

The estimated 40,100 full-time sworn minority sheriffs’ officers
employed in 2013 represented an increase of 7,300 officers
(up 22%) from 2007. Sheriffs’ offices employed more full-time
Hispanic officers than black officers for the first time in 2013.
The number of full-time Hispanic officers grew from 13,900
in 2007 to 19,400 in 2013 (up 39%). Full-time sworn black
officers increased 7%, from 15,600 in 2007 to 16,600 in 2013.
In 2013, 4,100 full-time personnel were members of other 
minority groups (Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific
Islanders and American Indian or Alaska Natives) or were of
two or more races. The proportion of officers in these groups
doubled between 1993 (1.1%) and 2013 (2.2%). ***Footnote 5 
Data on the number of sworn officers of two or more races 
were not collected in 1993***.

Among full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices during
2013, 78% were white, 11% were Hispanic, 9% were black,
and 2% were members of other minority groups (table 5).
A larger percentage of full-time sworn Hispanic officers
than black officers were employed by sheriffs’ offices serving
jurisdictions of 500,000 or more residents. In comparison, 
a larger proportion of black officers than Hispanic officers served
resident populations of 499,999 or fewer residents. Sheriffs’
offices serving jurisdictions of 1 million or more residents
employed more officers who were Asian, Native Hawaiian, or
Other Pacific Islanders than any other size of office. American
Indian or Alaska Natives made up about an equal proportion
of officers in sheriffs’ offices, regardless of jurisdiction size.

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Methodology
***************

Survey overview
*****************

The Law Enforcement Management and Administrative
Statistics (LEMAS) survey periodically collects data from
more than 3,000 general purpose law enforcement agencies,
including state police and highway patrol agencies, local
police departments, and sheriffs’ offices. The survey included
all agencies that employed 100 or more sworn officers and a
nationally representative sample of smaller agencies.

Previous LEMAS data collections occurred in 1987, 1990,
1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2007. A limited data collection
that focused on community policing was conducted in 1999.
These past surveys obtained data on functions performed,
operating expenditures, job functions of sworn and nonsworn
employees, officer salaries and special pay, demographic
characteristics of officers, education and training requirements,
types of weapons authorized, body armor policies, computers
and information systems, types of vehicles operated, the use of
special units, task force participation, and community policing
activities. Survey questions were updated with each iteration
to reflect emerging issues in the field of law enforcement.
Publications based on prior LEMAS Surveys can be accessed
on the BJS website.

Sample design and selection
***************************

The 2008 BJS Census of State and Local Law Enforcement
Agencies (CSLLEA) (the most recent available) provided
the sampling frame used for the 2013 LEMAS survey. Local
police departments and sheriffs’ offices were chosen for the
LEMAS survey using a stratified sample design based on the
number of sworn personnel. The original 2013 LEMAS sample
included 3,336 state and local law enforcement agencies. It
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. All 50 primary state law enforcement agencies
(state police and highway patrol) were included. Agencies
serving special jurisdictions (such as schools, airports, or
parks), or with special enforcement responsibilities (such as
conservation laws or alcohol laws) were considered out of
scope of the survey.

In the 2013 LEMAS sample design, 933 sheriffs’ offices, divided
into 7 strata based on the number of sworn officers employed,
were to receive the survey. During the initial contact phase,
38 of these offices were determined to not have an area of
primary law enforcement jurisdiction and were dropped from
the sample. All 350 offices employing 100 or more full-time
sworn personnel were self-representing in the sample design
and receive the survey. It was later determined that 17 of these
self-representing offices did not receive the survey because of
inaccurate contact information.

The base weight for self-representing offices was 1.051 instead
of the expected 1.000 (appendix table 8). The 6 remaining
strata and their corresponding base weights were as follows:
50 to 99 officers, 2.800; 25 to 49 officers, 4.412; 10 to 24 
officers, 5.497; 5 to 9 officers, 5.485; 2 to 4 officers, 6.190; 
and 1 officer, 5.000.  

Agency response rate
**********************

Of the 895 eligible sheriffs’ offices that received the survey,
717 completed it, for a response rate of 80%. By size, the
response rate ranged from 90% for agencies with 25 to 49
full-time sworn deputies to 73% for those with 5 to 9 full-time
sworn deputies. An adjustment factor unique to each stratum
was used to account for nonresponse. These nonresponse
adjustments and the resulting final analytical weights for each
stratum are included in appendix table 8.

All offices, regardless of size, were asked to complete the
80-item CJ-44 survey questionnaire. Most of the responses
were received electronically through a survey website. For
the 717 offices completing the survey, item nonresponse rates
due to omission or invalid data were low for the data elements
used in the report.

When a sheriffs’ office did not supply a response to a
numerical item, a ratio imputation method was used. The ratio
imputation used the value of the ratio of the numerical variable
to the number of full-time sworn personnel for sheriffs’ offices
that provided the numerical data. This ratio was computed
for each population category and applied to the number of
full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices with the missing
data to produce the imputed value. Imputations were not used
for categorical variables.

Accuracy of the estimates
*****************************
The accuracy of the estimates presented in this report depends
on two types of error: sampling and nonsampling. Sampling
error is the variation that may occur by chance because a
sample was used rather than a complete enumeration of the
population. Nonsampling error can be attributed to many
sources such as the inability to obtain information about all
cases in the sample, 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. Because the LEMAS data were collected from a
sample, the results are subject to sampling error. Variance and
standard error estimates for the 2013 LEMAS were generated
using the SUDAAN statistical software package. The Taylor
linearization method for a “stratified without replacement”
design was used for these calculations.

These standard error estimates may be used to construct
confidence intervals around percentages in this report. The
standard errors for the tables and figures are presented in
appendix tables. For example, the 95%-confidence interval
around the percentage of female sheriffs in sheriffs’ offices
serving 500,000 or more residents is 6.6% ± 1.96 × 1.5% (or
approximately to 9.5%) where “6.6%” is the point estimate in
table 4 and “1.5%” is the standard error in table 15.

The 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 sheriffs’ offices
serving 1 million or more residents and those serving
500,000 to 999,999 residents for the proportion of Hispanic
officers would be 6.2% (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 × 6.2% (or
12.2%). Because the observed difference of 13.1% (24.9%
minus 11.8%) is greater than 12.2%, 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. For example, the 95%-confidence interval
around the number of full-time sworn personnel in 2013 is
approximately 188,952 ± (1.96 x 7,360), or 174,526 to 203,378,
where “188,952” is the point estimate in table 1 and 
“7,360” is the standard error in table 10.

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The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department 
of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible 
for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal 
offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and 
the operation of criminal and civil justice systems at 
the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. BJS collects, 
analyzes, and disseminates reliable and valid statistics 
on crime and justice systems in the United States, supports 
improvements to state and local criminal justice information 
systems, and participates with national and international 
organizations to develop and recommend national standards 
for justice statistics. Jeri M. Mulrow is acting director.

This report was written by Andrea M. Burch. Brian Reaves 
verified the report.

Lynne McConnell and Jill Thomas edited the report. 
Tina Dorsey produced the report.

May 2016, NCJ 249757
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Office of Justice Programs
Innovation * Partnerships * Safer Neighborhoods
www.ojp.usdoj.gov
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5/18/2015 10:55pm JER 
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