BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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Law Enforcement
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“Law enforcement” is the term that describes the individuals and agencies responsible for enforcing laws and maintaining public order and public safety. Law enforcement includes the prevention, detection, and investigation of crime and the apprehension and detention of individuals suspected of law violation.

The BJS Law Enforcement Unit maintains more than a dozen national data collections covering federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and special topics in law enforcement. Most data series are collected every 2 to 4 years and focus on aggregate or agency-level responses, meaning the information that is collected pertains to units, such as police departments, training academies, and crime labs. The data from law enforcement agencies provide national estimates for personnel, equipment, operations, agency policies, budgets, and job functions across agencies. The Law Enforcement Unit collects data on contacts between the public and police, special units within law enforcement agencies, and trends in police organization.

About the Webpage

This website is organized so that specific types of agencies and issues related to law enforcement can be accessed through designated links. Each webpage provides a brief description of the topic and highlights key findings from our most current reports. More detailed information is available in our full reports, which can be retrieved through links in the Publications and Products section of the webpage. In addition to our most current publications, reports from earlier administrations of the series and supporting materials are provided when available. Codebooks displaying both detailed information about the data collection process and notable features of the data, survey instruments, and actual data files are available electronically and can be obtained through links in the Data Collection and Surveys section of the webpage. A complete listing of our core and supplementary data collections is available below.

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Data Collections & Surveys

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Publications & Products


Terms & Definitions

Backlog A case not completed within 30 days is classified as backlogged.
 
CODIS COSIS is an acronym for Combined DNA Index System, which is a computer software program that operates local, State, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons.
 
Chemical agents A chemical compound which has deleterious effects on human health. There are a number of different types of chemical agents, and a range of uses for these compounds, from crowd control to chemical warfare.
 
Crime laboratories A scientific laboratory (with at least one full-time natural scientist) that examines physical evidence in criminal matters, and provides reports and opinion testimony with respect to such physical evidence in courts of law.
 
Cross deputization agreements Allow law enforcement personnel from state and tribal entities to cross jurisdictions in criminal cases. Cross deputization agreements have been used to enhance law enforcement capabilities in areas were state and tribal lands were contiguous and intermingled. Under some agreements, federal, state, county/local, and/or tribal law enforcement officers have the power to arrest Indian and non-Indian wrongdoers wherever the violation of law occurs.
 
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