Shelley S. Hyland, Ph.D., Elizabeth Davis, BJS Statisticians

October 25, 2019    NCJ 252835

This report is the 11th in a series that began in 1987. It provides personnel information on the approximately 12,300 local police departments in the United States. It describes the number of sworn and civilian staff, demographic characteristics of sworn officers, and personnel assigned to specialized functions.

Highlights:

• Local police departments employed about 468,000 full-time sworn officers in 2016.
• Of the 50 largest local police departments, about two-thirds (33) had fewer full-time sworn officers per 10,000 residents in 2016 than in 1997.
• About 3% of all local police departments served populations of 100,000 or more, and they employed about 52% of all full-time sworn police officers.
• More than two-thirds (71%) of local police departments served populations of less than 10,000 residents.
• About 1 in 8 local police officers, and about 1 in 10 first-line supervisors, were female.
• About 1 in 4 local police officers, and about 1 in 5 first-line supervisors, were black or Hispanic.

Part of the Local Police Departments Series

Summary (PDF 550K)
Full report (PDF 854K)
Data tables (Zip format 33K)

Help for using BJS products

To cite this product, use the following link:
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6706

View All Publications and Products