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Sheriffs' Offices
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A sheriff’s office is a local law enforcement agency organized at the county level, directed by a sheriff. Nearly all sheriffs are elected officials. Sheriffs’ deputies mostly patrol the unincorporated areas of the county, or those which lie between large municipalities. In most instances, sheriffs do not engage in municipal law enforcement because most incorporated towns and cities have their own police forces. The summary findings below are based on the 2008 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) and the 2007 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey.

Summary findings

  • In 2008, 3,063 sheriffs’ offices with the equivalent of at least one full-time officer were operating in the U.S.
  • In 2008, sheriffs’ offices had about 353,000 full-time employees, including 183,000 sworn officers. About 24% of all state and local sworn personnel were sheriffs’ deputies.
  • About three-fifths of sheriffs’ offices employed fewer than 25 sworn personnel, and about half served a population of less than 25,000.
  • Women comprised 12% of the full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices in 2007, about the same as in 1987.
  • Racial and ethnic minorities comprised 19% of full-time sworn personnel in 2007, up from 13% in 1987.
  • From 2003 to 2007, the number of Hispanic or Latino officers employed by sheriffs’ offices increased by 15%. In 2007, an estimated 8% of officers were Hispanic or Latino.
  • In 2007, new deputy recruits were required to complete an average of nearly 1,300 hours of training.
  • In 2007, about 7 in 10 sworn personnel were employed by a sheriff’s office that used physical agility tests (74%) and written aptitude tests (68%) in the hiring process, and about 5 in 10 by one that used personality inventories (52%).
  • In 2007, average starting salaries for entry-level deputies ranged from about $28,000 per year in the smallest jurisdictions to about $46,000 per year in the largest. Overall, the average starting salary earned by entry-level deputies was about $38,500.
  • Overall, sheriffs’ office operating costs for fiscal year 2007 were about $112 per resident.
  • About 3 in 10 sheriffs’ offices used regularly scheduled foot or bicycle patrols during 2007.
  • In 2007, 57% of sheriffs’ offices required field officers to wear body armor at all times while on duty.
  • An estimated 79% of sworn personnel were employed by sheriffs’ offices that authorized the use of conducted energy devices—such as Tasers—during 2007, up from 47% in 2003.
  • Sixty-seven percent of sheriffs’ offices regularly used video cameras in patrol cars during 2007, compared to 58% in 2003. There were about 29,000 in-car cameras in use during 2007, compared to 18,000 in 2003.
  • Nearly 90% of sheriffs’ offices serving 100,000 or more residents were using in-field computers during 2007.
  • In 2007, about 8 in 10 sworn personnel were employed by a sheriff’s office that used in-field computers, compared to about 3 in 10 officers in 1990.
  • A majority of sheriffs’ offices, including more than three-quarters of those serving 25,000 or more residents, had sworn personnel assigned to a multiagency drug task force during 2007.

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Terms & Definitions

Municipalities An administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.
 
Sheriff The elected chief officer of a county law enforcement agency, usually responsible for law enforcement in unincorporated areas and for the operation of the county jail.
 
Sworn officers Persons formally authorized to make arrests while acting within the scope of explicit legal authority.
 
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