BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Local police departments make up more than two-thirds of the 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States. A local police department is a general purpose law enforcement agency, other than a sheriff’s office, that is operated by a unit of local government such as a town, city, township, or county. Tribal police are classified as local police in Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) data collections. 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, 12,501 local police departments with the equivalent of at least one full-time officer were operating in the U.S.
  • In 2008, local police departments had about 593,000 full-time employees, including 461,000 sworn officers. About 60% of all state and local sworn personnel were local police officers.
  • Municipal and township police departments employed an average of 2.3 full-time officers per 1,000 residents.
  • About half of local police departments employed fewer than 10 sworn personnel, and about three-fourths served a population of less than 10,000.
  • In 2007, about 1 in 8 local police officers were women, compared to 1 in 13 in 1987.
  • About 1 in 4 officers were members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2007, compared to 1 in 6 officers in 1987.
  • From 2003 to 2007, the number of Hispanic or Latino local police officers increased by 16%. In 2007, about 1 in 10 officers was Hispanic or Latino.
  • In 2007, local police recruits were required to complete an average of 1,370 training hours.
  • In 2007, more than 4 in 5 local police officers were employed by a department that used physical agility tests (86%) and written aptitude tests (82%) in the hiring process, and more than 3 in 5 by one that used personality inventories (66%).
  • Average starting salaries for entry-level local police officers in 2007 ranged from $26,600 per year in the smallest jurisdictions to $49,500 in the largest. Overall, the average starting salary earned by entry-level officers was about $40,500.
  • Overall, local police operating costs for fiscal year 2007 were $116,500 per sworn officer and $260 per resident.
  • During 2007, more than half (55%) of local police departments used regularly scheduled foot patrol, and about a third (32%) used bicycle patrol.
  • In 2007, 67% of local police officers were employed by a department that required them to wear protective body armor at all times while in the field, compared to 59% in 2003.
  • An estimated 75% of local police officers were employed by a department that authorized the use of conducted energy devices—such as Tasers—during 2007, up from 47% in 2003.
  • Sixty-one percent of local police departments regularly used video cameras in patrol cars during 2007, compared to 55% in 2003. There were about 71,000 in-car cameras in use during 2007, compared to 49,000 in 2003.
  • More than 90% of local police departments serving 25,000 or more residents were using in-field computers during 2007.
  • In 2007, about 9 in 10 local police officers were employed by a department that used in-field computers, compared to about 3 in 10 officers in 1990.
  • A majority of local police departments serving 10,000 or more residents had sworn personnel assigned to a multiagency drug task force during 2007.

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Terms & Definitions

Local law enforcement officer An employee of a local law enforcement agency who is an officer sworn to carry out law enforcement duties. Examples of this class are sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, chiefs of police, city police officers, and sworn personnel of law enforcement subunits of port and transit authorities. For national level general data, this class includes campus police officers employed by of local city and community college districts. Private campus police are excluded.
 
Sworn officers Persons formally authorized to make arrests while acting within the scope of explicit legal authority.
 
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