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Local Police
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More than 12,000 local police departments were operating in the United States during 2016. A local police department is a general-purpose law enforcement agency, other than a sheriffs' 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 data collections.

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Data Collections & Surveys

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Publications & Products


Body-Worn Cameras in Law Enforcement Agencies, 2016 Presents data on body-worn camera (BWCs) use and non-use in general-purpose law enforcement agencies for 2016.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF 209K) | Full report (PDF 484K) | Data tables (Zip format 29K)

Full-Time Employees in Law Enforcement Agencies, 1997-2016 Presents counts of full-time employees in general-purpose law enforcement agencies for 2016, with comparisons to prior years.
  Full report (PDF 325K) | Data tables (Zip format 7K)
Part of the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Series

Police Vehicle Pursuits, 2012-2013 Presents data on police vehicle pursuits and pursuit-related policies, including the number of police vehicle pursuits conducted by general purpose state and local law enforcement agencies in 2012, and the types of written pursuit-related policies maintained by these agencies as of January 2013.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF 184K) | PDF (851K) | ASCII file (33KB) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 45K)
Part of the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Series

Police Response to Domestic Violence, 2006-2015 Presents 2006-15 data on nonfatal domestic violence victimizations reported to police, the police response to these victimizations, the prevalence of related arrests or charges, and criminal complaints signed against the offender.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF 187K) | PDF (1.07M) | ASCII file (37K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format)

State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2013 Presents findings on the basic training programs of more than 600 state and local law enforcement training academies, including data on program content, recruits, and instructors.
  Summary (PDF 250K) | PDF (1.2M) | ASCII file (33K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 68K)
Part of the State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies Series

National Sources of Law Enforcement Employment Data This report describes and compares three law enforcement employment data sources: 1) the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, 2) the Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll (ASPEP), and 3) the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA).
  PDF (1.8M) | ASCII file (48K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 23K)

Local Police Departments, 2013: Equipment and Technology Presents findings on local police departments by population served in 2013, including comparisons with previous survey years.
  Press Release (8KB) | Summary (PDF 243KB) | PDF (640KB) | ASCII file (25KB) | Comma-delimited format (.csv) (Zip format 38KB)
Part of the Local Police Departments Series

Local Police Departments, 2013: Equipment and Technology AN ESTIMATED 32 PERCENT OF LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS WERE USING BODY-WORN CAMERAS IN 2013
  Press Release

Local Police Departments, 2013: Personnel, Policies, and Practices Presents findings on local police departments by population served in 2013, including comparisons with previous surveys dating back to 1987.
  Press Release | Executive Summary (PDF 85K) | PDF (751K) | ASCII file (36K) | Comma-delimited format (.csv) (Zip format 46K)
Part of the Local Police Departments Series

Requests for Police Assistance, 2011 STUDY FINDS SOME RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTIONS OF POLICE BEHAVIOR DURING CONTACT WITH THE PUBLIC
  Press Release

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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.
 
SARA SARA stands for Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment. SARA is a commonly used problem-solving method involved in community policing. For more information visit the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing site.
 
Sworn officers Persons formally authorized to make arrests while acting within the scope of explicit legal authority.
 
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