U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics

July 2011, NCJ 233982

Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D., BJS Statistician

I

n September 2008, state and local law enforcement
agencies employed more than 1.1 million persons
on a full-time basis, including about 765,000
sworn personnel (defined as those with general arrest
powers). Agencies also employed approximately
100,000 part-time employees, including 44,000 sworn
officers. These findings come from the 2008 Bureau
of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) Census of State and Local
Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), the fifth such
census to be conducted since the quadrennial series
began in 1992.
From 2004 to 2008, state and local agencies added a
net total of about 33,000 full-time sworn personnel.
This was about 9,500 more than agencies added from
2000 to 2004 (figure 1), reversing a trend of declining
growth observed in prior 4-year comparisons based
on the CSLLEA. Local police departments added the
most officers, about 14,000. Sheriffs’ offices and special jurisdiction agencies added about 8,000 officers
each. From 2004 to 2008, the number of full-time
sworn personnel per 100,000 U.S. residents increased
from 250 to 251.

Figure 1
Net increase in full-time sworn personnel employed
by state and local law enforcement agencies, per
4-year period, 1992–2008

33,343

2004-2008

2000-2004

Bul l etin

Census of State and Local Law
Enforcement Agencies, 2008

23,881

44,487

1996-2000

1992-1996

55,513
Net increase

HIGHLIGHTS
„„ State and local law enforcement agencies employed

about 1,133,000 persons on a full-time basis in 2008,
including 765,000 sworn personnel.
„„ Local police departments were the largest employer

of sworn personnel, accounting for 60% of the total.
Sheriffs’ offices were next, accounting for 24%.
„„ About half (49%) of all agencies employed fewer

than 10 full-time officers. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of
sworn personnel worked for agencies that employed
100 or more officers.
„„ From 2004 to 2008, overall full-time employment

by state and local law enforcement agencies
nationwide increased by about 57,000 (or 5.3%).
Sworn personnel increased by about 33,000 (4.6%),
and nonsworn employees by about 24,000 (6.9%).

„„ From 2004 to 2008, state and local law enforcement

agencies added about 9,500 more full-time sworn
personnel than during the previous 4-year period.
„„ The number of full-time sworn personnel per

100,000 residents increased from 250 in 2004 to
251 in 2008.
„„ Fifteen of the 50 largest local police departments

employed fewer full-time sworn personnel in 2008
than in 2004. The largest declines were in Detroit
(36%), Memphis (23%), New Orleans (13%), and San
Francisco (10%).
„„ Ten of the 50 largest local police departments

reported double-digit increases in sworn personnel
from 2004 to 2008. The largest increases were in
Phoenix (19%), Prince George’s County (Maryland)
(17%), Dallas (15%), and Fort Worth (14%).

For a lis t o f all p ub l i c at i o n s i n t h i s se ri e s, go to ht t p ://w w w.b js.g ov.

BJS

State and local law enforcement
agencies
The 2008 CSLLEA included 17,985 state
and local law enforcement agencies
employing at least one full-time officer
or the equivalent in part-time officers.
The total included—
„„

12,501 local police departments

„„

3,063 sheriffs’ offices

„„

50 primary state law enforcement
agencies

„„

1,733 special jurisdiction agencies

„„

638 other agencies, primarily county
constable offices in Texas.

A majority of state and local law
enforcement personnel worked for
local police departments
Local police departments were the largest employer of full-time state and local
law enforcement personnel with about
593,000 (or 52%) of the more than 1.1
million employees nationwide (table 1
and appendix table 1). Sheriffs’ offices
employed about 353,000 (31%). Both
the 50 primary state law enforcement
agencies and the special jurisdiction
agencies (those that served a special
geographic jurisdiction or had special
enforcement or investigative responsibilities) accounted for 8% . (See table 7
for types of special jurisdiction agencies.)
About 461,000 sworn state and local
law enforcement employees (60%) were
local police officers. Sworn personnel
in sheriffs’ offices accounted for about
183,000 (24%). The 50 primary state law
enforcement agencies employed about
61,000 (8%), and special jurisdiction
agencies employed about 57,000 (7%).
Sheriffs’ offices accounted for 46%
of the 369,000 full-time civilian
personnel nationwide, and local police
departments accounted for 36%. Nearly
half (48%) of the full-time employees in
sheriffs’ offices were civilians, compared
to 35% in state law enforcement
agencies and 22% in local police
departments (not shown in table).

The largest 7% of state and local law
enforcement agencies employed 64%
of all sworn personnel
Nearly 1,200 state and local law enforcement agencies (7%) employed 100 or
more full-time sworn personnel, with
83 of those agencies employing 1,000
or more officers (table 2 and appendix
table 2). The agencies with 1,000 or
more officers included 49 local police
departments, 20 state law enforcement
agencies, 13 sheriffs’ offices, and 1 special jurisdiction agency.
Agencies with 100 or more officers employed 64% of all full-time sworn personnel, and those with 1,000 or more officers
employed 29%. (See appendix table 5 for
the 50 largest state and local law enforcement agencies.)
About 8,800 state and local law enforcement agencies (49% of the total)
employed fewer than 10 full-time sworn
personnel, and about 5,400 (30%)
employed fewer than 5 officers. Among
these smaller agencies, about 2,100

(12%) had just one full-time officer or
had part-time officers only.
Agencies with fewer than 10 full-time
sworn personnel employed less than 5%
of all full-time officers, but 50% of all
part-time officers. Those employing 1,000
or more full-time sworn personnel accounted for less than 1% of all part-time
officers nationwide (not shown in table).
From 1992 to 2008, the growth rate
for civilian personnel was more than
double that of sworn personnel
From 2004 to 2008, the total number
of full-time state and local law enforcement employees increased by about
57,000 (5.3%). This total included an
increase in sworn personnel of about
33,000 (4.6%). Civilian employment
in the agencies rose by 24,000 (6.9%).
Local police departments accounted
for a larger proportion of the growth in
sworn officers from 2004 to 2008 than
other agency types, and sheriffs’ offices
accounted for most of the growth in
civilian employees.

Table 1
State and local law enforcement employees, by type of agency, 2008
Type of agency
Agencies
All agencies
17,985
Local police
12,501
Sheriff’s office
3,063
Primary state
50
Special jurisdiction
1,733
Constable/marshal
638

Full-time employees
Total
Sworn
Nonsworn
1,133,915 765,246
368,669
593,013 461,063
131,950
353,461 182,979
170,482
93,148
60,772
32,376
90,262
56,968
33,294
4,031
3,464
567

Part-time employees
Total
Sworn
Nonsworn
100,340
44,062
56,278
58,129
27,810
30,319
26,052
11,334
14,718
947
54
893
14,681
4,451
10,230
531
413
118

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.

Table 2
Full-time state and local law enforcement employees, by size of agency, 2008
Size of agency*
All agencies
1,000 or more officers
500–999
250–499
100–249
50–99
25–49
10–24
5–9
2–4
0–1

Agencies
17,985
83
89
237
778
1,300
2,402
4,300
3,446
3,225
2,125

Total
1,133,915
326,197
94,168
133,024
174,505
136,390
124,492
98,563
32,493
11,498
2,585

Full-time employees
Sworn
765,246
230,759
60,124
83,851
115,535
89,999
83,349
67,132
23,107
9,470
1,920

Nonsworn
368,669
95,438
34,044
49,173
58,970
46,391
41,143
31,431
9,386
2,028
665

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.
*Based on number of full-time sworn personnel.

2	

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

Reversing a pattern of declining growth
observed in the 2000 and 2004 CSLLEA
data collections, about 9,500 more fulltime sworn personnel were added from
2004 to 2008 than in the previous 4-year
period. The percentage growth in the
number of sworn officers from 2004 to
2008 (4.6%) exceeded growth from 2000
to 2004 (3.4%), but was about half the
9.1% peak growth rate recorded from
1992 to 1996.
From 2004 to 2008, the growth rate
for sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices
(4.5%) was about the same as the overall
rate. The growth rates for local police
departments (3.2%) and the primary
state law enforcement agencies (3.4%)
were lower than the overall average. The
growth rate was highest among special
jurisdiction agencies (16.7%).
From 1992 (the year of the first CSLLEA)
to 2008, state and local law enforcement agencies added more than 287,000
full-time employees (a 34% increase),
including about 157,000 sworn officers
(26%) and 130,000 civilian employees
(55%) (figure 2).
Nationwide there was 1 sworn officer
for every 400 residents
In 2008 there were 373 full-time state
and local law enforcement employees per 100,000 residents nationwide,
compared to 367 per 100,000 in 2004
and 332 per 100,000 in 1992 (figure 3).
There were 251 sworn personnel per
100,000 residents nationwide in 2008, or
about 1 officer for every 400 residents.
This was a slight increase over the 2004
ratio of 250 per 100,000 residents.
There were more than 300 full-time
sworn personnel per 100,000 residents
in the District of Columbia (722), Louisiana (405), New Jersey (389), New York
(341), Illinois (321), and Wyoming (317)
(figure 4). In contrast, there were fewer
than 200 full-time sworn personnel per
100,000 residents in Washington (174),
Utah (175), Oregon (177), Vermont
(178), Kentucky (183), Minnesota (185),
West Virginia (186), Alaska (189),
Michigan (190), Iowa (195), and Maine
(195). (See appendix table 6 for stateby-state agency and employee counts.)

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Figure 2
Full-time state and local and law enforcement employees, 1992–2008

Total

846,410

921,968

1,019,496

1,076,897

1,133,915

708,022

731,903

765,246

Sworn
officers

608,022

663,535

Civilians

238,388

258,433

311,474

344,994

368,669

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

Figure 3
Full-time state and local and law enforcement employees per 100,000 residents,
1992–2008
348

361

367

373

251

250

251

Total

332

Sworn
officers

238

Civilians

93

97

110

118

121

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

250

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding.

Figure 4
Full-time sworn personnel per 100,000 residents employed by state and local law
enforcement agencies, 2008

Number of full-time sworn personnel per 100,000 residents
Less than 200
200–249
250–299
300 or more

3

Local police departments
In 2008, 12,501 local police departments
in the United States employed at least
one full-time officer or the equivalent
in part-time officers. Nearly all (98%)
were operated by a municipal government. The remainder were operated by
a county, tribal, or consolidated citycounty government or served multiple
jurisdictions under a regional or joint
arrangement. Overall, about a third
(35%) of the nearly 36,000 sub-county
(municipal, township) general purpose
local governments nationwide operated
a local police department.
States with the largest numbers of local
police departments were Pennsylvania
(965), Texas (788), Illinois (701), Ohio
(678), New Jersey (476), Michigan
(455), Missouri (430), and Wisconsin (429). States with the fewest were
Hawaii (4), Delaware (36), Nevada (38),
Rhode Island (39), and Alaska (42).
(See appendix table 7 for state-by-state
agency and employee counts.)
Although most local police
departments were small, most local
police officers worked for larger
agencies
More than half of local police departments
employed fewer than 10 full-time officers,
and the overall median size was 8 full-time
officers (table 3). Although departments
with fewer than 10 full-time officers comprised 53% of all agencies, they employed
just 6% of all officers (appendix table 3). A
total of 638 (5%) of local police departments employed 100 or more full-time
sworn personnel. These agencies employed 61% of all local police officers.
About 14,000 local police officers
were added nationwide from 2004 to
2008, compared to about 6,000 in the
previous 4-year period
From 2004 to 2008, the total number
of full-time local police employees
increased by 20,000 (3.5%) to about
593,000 (figure 5). The number of
full-time sworn personnel increased by
14,000 (3.2%) to about 461,000 during this period. The number of civilian
employees rose by 6,000 (4.6%) to about
132,000.
4	

From 2004 to 2008, 15 of the 50 largest
local police departments experienced a
decrease in number of officers employed, compared to 20 of 50 between
2000 and 2004. The decline was small
for some departments, such as the
NYPD, which had 95 (0.3%) fewer
officers in 2008 than 2004. In other
departments, the loss was more substantial. Four of the 50 largest departments
experienced a drop of more than 10%
in the number of full-time officers from
2004 to 2008:

From 2004 to 2008, the number of local
police officers fell by 36% in Detroit
and by 23% in Memphis
During 2008 the New York City Police
Department (NYPD), with 36,023
full-time officers, remained the largest
local police department in the United
States (appendix table 8). The NYPD
employed nearly 3 times as many sworn
personnel as the next largest agency—
the Chicago Police Department (13,354
officers). The other three local police
departments that employed 5,000 or
more officers during 2008 were in Los
Angeles (9,727 officers), Philadelphia
(6,624), and Houston (5,053).

„„

Detroit Police (down 35.9%)

„„

Memphis Police (down 23.2%)

„„

New Orleans Police (down 13.4%)

„„

San Francisco Police (down 10.5%).

Table 3
Full-time local police employees, by size of agency, 2008
Size of agency*
All agencies
1,000 or more officers
500–999
250–499
100–249
50–99
25–49
10–24
5–9
2–4
0–1

Agencies
12,501
49
43
101
445
815
1,543
2,846
2,493
2,637
1,529

Total
593,013
194,829
39,447
47,910
85,345
72,701
67,743
55,476
19,687
8,405
1,470

Full-time employees
Sworn
461,063
150,444
29,985
36,021
64,939
56,060
53,465
44,520
16,582
7,694
1,353

Nonsworn
131,950
44,385
9,462
11,889
20,406
16,641
14,278
10,956
3,105
711
117

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.
*Based on number of full-time sworn personnel.

Figure 5
Full-time employees in local police departments, 1992–2008
Total

478,586

521,625

410,596

565,915

573,152

593,013

440,920

446,974

461,063

Sworn
officers

374,524

Civilians

104,062

111,029

124,995

126,178

131,950

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

Ten local police departments had a
double-digit percentage increase in
number of officers from 2004 to 2008
Among the 50 largest local police
departments, 35 employed more fulltime officers in 2008 than in 2004. The
departments serving the following
jurisdictions reported a double-digit
increase:
„„

Phoenix, Arizona (up 18.5%)

„„

Prince George’s County, Maryland
(up 17.4%)

„„

Dallas, Texas (up 15.5%)

„„

Montgomery County, Maryland (up
15.2%)

„„

Fort Worth, Texas (up 14.0%)

„„

DeKalb County, Georgia (up 13.1%)

„„

Charlotte-Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina (up 12.7%)

„„

Austin, Texas (up 11.2%)

„„

Boston, Massachusetts (up 11.2%)

„„

Las Vegas-Clark County, Nevada (up
10.0%).

About half of the 50 largest
departments had fewer officers per
100,000 residents in 2008 than 2004
In 2008, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police continued to have the
highest ratio of full-time officers (634
officers per 100,000 residents), but this
was an 3% decrease from 2004. Despite
a 13% reduction in officers since 2004,
the New Orleans Police had the seventh
highest ratio of officers to residents at
423 per 100,000. This ratio was 19%
higher than in 2004 as the city’s population (although growing since 2007)
remained well below the levels that
existed prior to Hurricane Katrina in
August 2005.
Other large local police departments
with more than 400 officers per 100,000
residents during 2008 included those in
Chicago (472), Newark (472), Baltimore
(469), Philadelphia (430), and New York
(432). The lowest ratios among the 50
largest departments were in Montgom-

J u ly 2011	

ery County (Maryland) (129), Fairfax
County (Virginia) (144), San Jose (146),
San Antonio (150), and DeKalb County
(Georgia) (168). Overall, 24 of the 50
largest local police departments had
fewer officers per 100,000 residents in
2008 than in 2004.

Sheriffs’ offices
The office of sheriff exists in nearly
every county and independent city in
the United States with a total of 3,085
offices nationwide. A total of 3,063
sheriffs’ offices employed at least one
full-time sworn officer or the equivalent
in part-time officers during 2008. (Note:
Some sheriffs’ offices that have been
involved in consolidations of county and
municipal governmental functions are
classified as local police in the CSLLEA.)
States with the most sheriffs’ offices were
Texas (254), Georgia (159), Kentucky
(120), Missouri (114), Kansas (104),
Illinois (102), and North Carolina (100).
(See appendix table 9 for state-by-state
agency and employee counts).
Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Rhode
Island do not have any local sheriffs’
offices. In those four states the court related duties typically performed by local
sheriffs’ offices are the responsibility of
state agencies. The District of Columbia also does not have a sheriffs’ office,
where such duties are performed by the
U.S. Marshals Service.

Nearly all sheriffs’ offices performed
law enforcement and court-related
functions; about 3 in 4 operated at
least one jail
Nearly all (96%) sheriffs’ offices performed traditional law enforcement
functions such as providing patrol
services, responding to citizen calls for
service, and enforcing traffic laws. A
similar percentage performed courtrelated duties such as serving process
(98%) and providing court security
(96%). In addition, 75% of sheriffs’ offices were responsible for operating at
least one jail.
Nationwide, sheriffs’ offices had the
equivalent of 59% of their full-time
sworn personnel assigned to law enforcement operations, 23% to jail operations, 12% to court operations, and 6%
to other duty areas. (Note: The CSLLEA
counts all personnel with general arrest
powers as sworn officers regardless of
duty area.)
Nearly 400 sheriffs’ offices employed
100 or more full-time sworn personnel
In 2008, 13 sheriffs’ offices employed
1,000 or more full-time sworn officers,
accounting for 18% of the full-time
sworn personnel employed by sheriffs’
offices nationwide (table 4 and appendix
table 4). A total of 378 (12%) sheriffs’
offices employed at least 100 officers, accounting for 66% of sworn personnel.

Table 4
Full-time sheriffs’ employees, by size of agency, 2008
Size of agency*
All agencies
1,000 or more officers
500–999
250–499
100–249
50–99
25–49
10–24
5–9
2–4
0–1

Agencies
3,063
13
27
98
240
327
573
910
569
261
45

Total
353,461
59,981
34,348
64,704
68,265
44,772
40,988
30,121
8,485
1,615
182

Full-time employees
Sworn
182,979
32,897
17,184
34,743
36,085
23,037
20,084
14,196
3,901
822
30

Nonsworn
170,482
27,084
17,164
29,961
32,180
21,735
20,904
15,925
4,584
793
152

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.
*Based on number of full-time sworn personnel.

5

While more than half of local police
departments employed fewer than 10
full-time officers in 2008, less than a
third (29%) of sheriffs’ offices were
this small. The median staffing level of
sheriffs’ offices was 18 full-time sworn
personnel.
Sheriffs’ offices added more than twice
as many civilian employees as sworn
ones from 2004 to 2008
From 2004 to 2008, total full-time staff
in sheriffs’ offices increased by 27,000
employees (8.2%) to about 353,000
(figure 6). The number of full-time sworn
personnel increased by 8,000 (4.5%) to
about 183,000 during this period. The
number of civilian employees rose by
19,000 (12.5%) to about 170,000.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department was the largest in the United
States, employing 9,461 full-time sworn
personnel (appendix table 10). About
a third of these officers had regularly
assigned duties that included responding to citizen calls for service, with
the remainder assigned to court and
jail-related duties. The second largest
sheriff ’s office served Cook County,
Illinois, with 5,655 sworn personnel.
Just 4% of these officers were assigned to
respond to calls.
Among the 50 largest sheriffs’ offices,
the percent of sworn personnel assigned
to respond to calls for service ranged
from 0% to 97%. All but one agency
reported having at least some sworn
personnel who regularly performed law
enforcement duties, and all but four had
sworn personnel who performed courtrelated functions. About two-thirds of
the agencies employed sworn personnel
who performed jail-related duties.

Primary state law enforcement
agencies
The CSLLEA identifies a primary state
law enforcement agency in each of the
50 states. Depending on the state, this
agency may be a state police agency,
highway patrol agency, or a department
of public safety. The latter are often
more complex organizations and may
encompass several agencies or divisions.
Comparisons between primary state law
enforcement agencies may not always
6	

be appropriate because of differences in
organizational structure and responsibilities.

agencies employed 1,000 or more sworn
personnel, and 35 agencies employed at
least 500 full-time officers.

From 2004 to 2008, employment
by primary state law enforcement
agencies rose by about 4%

State agencies had 3,240 (3.6%) more
employees in 2008 than in 2004. (figure
7) Employment of full-time sworn personnel increased by about 2,000 (3.4%
change) from to 2004 to 2008. Civilian
employment rose by about 1,300 (4.0%
change) during this period.

In 2008, the 50 primary state law enforcement agencies had 93,148 full-time
employees, including about 61,000 fulltime sworn personnel (table 5). Twenty

Figure 6
Full-time employees in sheriffs’ offices, 1992–2008

293,823
Total
Sworn
officers

Civilians

225,404
136,592

326,531

257,712
152,922

88,812

104,790

1992

1996

164,711

175,018

129,112

151,513

2000

2004

353,461

182,979

170,482

2008

Table 5
Full-time primary state law enforcement agency employees, by size of agency, 2008
Size of agency*
All agencies
1,000 or more officers
500–999
250–499
100–249

Agencies
50
20
15
10
5

Total
93,148
69,616
16,986
5,270
1,276

Full-time employees
Sworn
60,772
45,751
10,413
3,694
914

Nonsworn
32,376
23,865
6,573
1,576
362

*Based on number of full-time sworn personnel.

Figure 7
Full-time employees in primary state law enforcement agencies, 1992–2008
Total

78,570

Sworn
officers

52,980

Civilians

25,590
1992

93,148

83,742

87,028

89,908

54,587

56,348

58,785

60,772

29,155

30,680

31,123

32,376

1996

2000

2004

2008

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

The California Highway Patrol was the
largest state law enforcement agency
The largest state law enforcement
agency, the California Highway Patrol,
had 7,202 full-time sworn personnel,
followed by the New York State Police (4,847), Pennsylvania State Police
(4,458), Texas Department of Public
Safety (3,529), and New Jersey State
Police (3,053) (table 6).
Five agencies had fewer than 250 fulltime sworn personnel: the North Dakota Highway Patrol (139), South Dakota
Highway Patrol (152), Rhode Island
State Police (201), Wyoming Highway
Patrol (204), and Montana Highway
Patrol (218).
The Delaware State Police (75) had the
largest number of full-time officers per
100,000 residents, followed by the Vermont State Police (49) and the Alaska
State Troopers (40). The Wisconsin State
Patrol (9), Florida Highway Patrol (9),
and Minnesota State Patrol (10) had the
smallest numbers of full-time officers
per 100,000 residents.
From 2004 to 2008, 30 of the 50 primary
state law enforcement agencies increased
the number of full-time sworn personnel
they employed. Three agencies increased
their number of full-time sworn personnel by more than 20%: the South Carolina Highway Patrol (up 23.2%), the New
Hampshire State Police (up 21.1%), and
the North Carolina State Highway Patrol
(up 20.4%). The largest decreases in the
number of full-time sworn personnel
were reported by the Utah Department
of Public Safety (down 11.7%), the
Maryland State Police (down 9.8%), and
the Idaho State Police (down 8.3%).
The ratio of full-time sworn personnel
per 100,000 residents served increased
in 23 agencies from 2004 to 2008. The
largest increases of officers per 100,000
residents were reported by the New
Hampshire State Police (up 18.4%), the
Iowa Department of Public Safety (up
17.6%), and the Louisiana State Police
(up 15.3%). The largest decreases were
reported by the Utah Department of
Public Safety (down 21.0%), the Idaho
State Police (down 16.5%), and the
Georgia Department of Public Safety
(down 13.2%).
J u ly 2011	

Table 6
Primary state law enforcement agency full-time sworn personnel, 2008
Agency
U.S. total
Alabama Dept. of Public Safety
Alaska State Troopers
Arizona Dept. of Public Safety
Arkansas State Police
California Highway Patrol
Colorado State Police
Connecticut State Police
Delaware State Police
Florida Highway Patrol
Georgia Dept. of Public Safety
Hawaii Dept. of Public Safety*
Idaho State Police
Illinois State Police
Indiana State Police
Iowa Dept. of Public Safety
Kansas Highway Patrol
Kentucky State Police
Louisiana State Police
Maine State Police
Maryland State Police
Massachusetts State Police
Michigan State Police
Minnesota State Patrol
Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol
Missouri State Highway Patrol
Montana Highway Patrol
Nebraska State Patrol
Nevada Highway Patrol
New Hampshire State Police
New Jersey State Police
New Mexico State Police
New York State Police
North Carolina State Highway Patrol
North Dakota Highway Patrol
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Oklahoma Dept. of Public Safety
Oregon State Police
Pennsylvania State Police
Rhode Island State Police
South Carolina Highway Patrol
South Dakota Highway Patrol
Tennessee Dept. of Safety
Texas Dept. of Public Safety
Utah Dept. of Public Safety
Vermont State Police
Virginia State Police
Washington State Police
West Virginia State Police
Wisconsin State Patrol
Wyoming Highway Patrol

Total
60,772
763
274
1,244
525
7,202
742
1,227
658
1,606
1,048
290
264
2,105
1,315
669
525
882
1,215
334
1,440
2,310
1,732
530
594
1,028
218
491
417
350
3,053
528
4,847
1,827
139
1,560
825
596
4,458
201
967
152
942
3,529
475
307
1,873
1,132
667
492
204

Percent change
from 2004
3.4%
9.2%
-5.2
10.6
3.3
1.7
9.0
6.5
2.5
-2.9
-5.6
18.9
-8.3
4.8
13.6
19.7
-3.0
-5.8
14.3
-1.2
-9.8
5.0
-7.0
-2.6
11.0
-6.3
5.8
-2.4
-1.0
21.1
10.3
-6.7
3.9
20.4
3.0
3.9
2.1
-4.0
6.1
5.8
23.2
-1.3
-3.1
2.7
-11.7
-5.5
0.2
6.9
4.1
-3.5
8.5

Per 100,000
residents
20
16
40
19
18
20
15
35
75
9
11
23
17
16
21
22
19
21
27
25
25
35
17
10
20
17
23
28
16
26
35
27
25
20
22
14
23
16
35
19
21
19
15
15
17
49
24
17
37
9
38

Percent change
from 2004
-0.5%
5.3%
-8.8
-2.0
-1.0
-1.2
1.5
5.6
-3.3
-8.4
-13.2
15.6
-16.5
3.2
10.5
17.6
-5.3
-8.8
15.3
-2.0
-11.6
3.5
-6.2
-5.4
9.0
-9.4
1.2
-4.6
-11.8
18.4
9.6
-11.2
3.0
11.1
2.1
3.3
-1.5
-9.3
4.6
7.6
14.9
-5.0
-8.1
-5.3
-21.0
-6.0
-4.0
0.7
3.4
-5.5
2.4

*The Hawaii Department of Public Safety was previously classified in the CSLLEA as a special jurisdiction agency.

7

Special jurisdiction law
enforcement agencies
More than 1,700 state and local law
enforcement agencies served a special
geographic jurisdiction, or had special
enforcement or investigative responsibilities during 2008. These agencies
employed about 90,000 persons full
time, including 57,000 sworn personnel
(table 7).
About 11,000 full-time sworn
personnel were employed at 4-year
public universities and colleges
More than two-thirds of special jurisdiction law enforcement agencies served
public buildings and facilities, employing more than 21,000 sworn personnel.
Within this group were more than 500
campus police departments serving
4-year public institutions. These agencies employed about 11,000 full-time
sworn officers. Another 253 campus
police agencies served 2-year public
colleges, employing more than 2,600
full-time sworn personnel. Additionally, 18 agencies, employing more than
700 full-time officers, served medical
campuses.

Table 7
Special jurisdiction law enforcement agencies and full-time sworn personnel, by type
of jurisdiction, 2008
Type of special jurisdiction
Total
Public buildings/facilities
4-year university/college
Public school district
2-year college
State government buildings
Medical school/campus
Public hospital/health facility
Public housing
Other state-owned facilities
Natural resources
Fish and wildlife conservation laws
Parks and recreational areas
Multi-function natural resources
Boating laws
Environmental laws
Water resources
Forest resources
Levee district
Transportation systems/facilities
Airports
Mass transit system/railroad
Transportation—multiple types
Commercial vehicles
Harbor/port facilities
Bridges/tunnels
Criminal investigations
State bureau of investigation
County/city investigations
Fraud investigations
Fire marshal/arson investigations
Tax/revenue enforcement
Other/multiple types
Special enforcement
Alcohol/tobacco laws
Agricultural laws
Narcotics laws
Gaming laws
Racing laws

Agencies
1,733
1,126
508
250
253
29
18
48
13
7
246
56
124
16
10
7
18
9
6
167
103
18
5
12
25
4
140
22
66
13
21
6
12
54
22
12
5
10
5

Full-time sworn personnel
56,968
21,418
10,916
4,764
2,648
1,138
747
715
250
240
14,571
5,515
4,989
2,926
461
368
185
65
62
11,508
3,555
3,214
2,000
1,320
876
543
7,310
3,527
2,006
636
478
177
486
2,161
1,280
387
233
231
30

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.

8	

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

The largest campus law enforcement
agency serving a public institution
of higher education was the Temple
University Police Department in Philadelphia, which employed 125 full-time
sworn personnel (table 8). The next
largest were at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey (94 fulltime officers), the University of Texas
Health Science Center in Houston (94),
the University of Maryland-College
Park (90), and the University of Florida
(85). (For more information on campus
law enforcement agencies including
those serving private campuses and
those not employing sworn personnel,
see Campus Law Enforcement Agencies,
2004-05, BJS Web, February 2008.)

A total of 250 special jurisdiction
agencies served public school districts
The 250 police departments operated
by public school districts nationwide
employed nearly 5,000 full-time sworn
personnel. Although some large school
systems, including those in New York
and Chicago, obtained services from
their city police departments, some
of the largest systems had their own
police departments with full-time sworn
personnel. The largest of these in 2008
was the School District of Philadelphia
which employed 450 full-time sworn
officers (table 9). Other large school police departments included those serving
districts in Los Angeles (340 full-time
officers); Miami-Dade County, Florida
(210); Houston, Texas (197); Palm

Beach County, Florida (176); Clark
County, Nevada (157); and Baltimore,
Maryland (142).
Another 29 special jurisdiction agencies,
employing more than 1,100 officers,
were responsible for providing services
for state government buildings. Many
of these agencies use the name capitol
police, reflecting the most prominent of
the facilities they protect. In some states,
police protection for the capitol and
other state government buildings falls
under the jurisdiction of a primary state
law enforcement agency, such as the
state police.

Table 8
Thirty largest law enforcement agencies serving public colleges
and universities, by number of full-time sworn personnel, 2008

Table 9
Fifteen largest law enforcement agencies serving public school
districts, by number of full-time sworn personnel, 2008

College or University
Temple University
University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey
University of Texas Health Science Center
University of Maryland - College Park
University of Florida
University of Alabama - Birmingham
City University of New York - Brooklyn College
University of Georgia
University of Illinois at Chicago
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of California - Berkeley
University of Pittsburgh
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Arizona State University
Michigan State University
Georgia State University
University of Central Florida
Texas A & M University
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
University of Mississippi Medical Center
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Florida State University
Georgia Tech University
Louisiana State University Police
University of Maryland - Baltimore
University of Cincinnati
Medical University of South Carolina
University of Texas - Austin
University of Alabama
State University of New York at Buffalo

School district
School District of Philadelphia (PA)
Los Angeles (CA) Unified School District
Miami-Dade (FL) County Public Schools
Houston (TX) Independent School District
Palm Beach (FL) County School District
Clark County (NV) School District
Baltimore City (MD) Public Schools
Indianapolis (IN) Public Schools
Dallas (TX) Independent School District
DeKalb County (GA) School System
Northside (TX) Independent School District
Boston (MA) Public Schools
San Antonio (TX) Independent School District
Austin (TX) Independent School District
Detroit (MI) Public Schools

J u ly 2011	

Full-time sworn personnel
125
94
94
90
85
79
79
78
74
74
73
73
71
70
69
68
64
64
63
63
63
62
62
62
62
62
62
62
61
61

Full-time sworn personnel
450
340
210
197
176
157
142
90
88
83
83
80
71
70
60

9

Nearly 15,000 full-time sworn
personnel were employed in jobs
related to natural resources
After agencies serving public buildings
and facilities, the next largest employer
of full-time sworn personnel among
special jurisdiction agencies was the
group responsible for enforcing laws
pertaining to natural resources. Most of
these agencies enforced laws pertaining
to fish and wildlife conservation, or provided law enforcement services for parks
and recreation areas. Other functions
included enforcing environmental pollution laws, boating laws, and protecting
vital forest and water resources. Overall,
these 246 agencies employed nearly
15,000 full-time sworn personnel.
Many of the largest natural resources
law enforcement agencies were operated at the state level, including 28 of
the 30 largest (table 10). The California
Department of Parks and Recreation
employed the most full-time sworn
personnel (645), followed by the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (626), Texas Parks & Wildlife
Department (480), Ohio Department of
Natural Resources (394), and California
Department of Fish & Game (330).

10	

The largest local-level agency in this
category was operated by the New York
City Department of Environmental Protection, which employed 168 full-time
police officers to protect the city’s watershed and water infrastructure. Many

park police agencies also existed at the
local and regional levels, and 21 Native American tribes employed separate
agencies with full-time sworn personnel
to enforce laws pertaining to fish and
wildlife conservation.

Table 10
Thirty largest state and local natural resource law enforcement agencies , by number
of full-time sworn personnel, 2008
Agency
California Department of Parks & Recreation
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
California Department of Fish and Game
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Park Police
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Maryland State Forest and Park Service
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Lousiana Wildlife And Fisheries Department
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks
Colorado Division of Wildlife
Maryland Natural Resources Police
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation
Missouri Department of Conservation
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Pennsylvania Game Commission - Law Enforcement
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
North Carolina Division of State Parks & Recreation
Arkansas Game And Fish Commission
Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks
New York City Department of Environmental Protection Police
Virginia Department Game and Inland Fisheries
New York City Parks Enforcement Patrol

Full-time sworn personnel
645
626
480
394
330
321
305
275
261
250
238
235
230
226
224
209
209
209
204
201
200
195
191
189
185
183
178
168
160
149

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

Agencies tasked with safeguarding
transportation systems and facilities
employed more than 11,000 full-time
sworn personnel
Transportation-related jurisdictions,
such as mass transit systems, airports,
bridges, tunnels, commercial vehicles,
and port facilities, have been a major
area of focus for homeland security
efforts in recent years. In 2008, 167
law enforcement agencies had specific
transportation-related jurisdictions
and employed about 11,500 full-time
sworn officers. The largest, the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey
Police Department, employed 1,667
officers in 2008 (table 11). The multiple jurisdictions of the Port Authority
Police included LaGuardia, Kennedy,
and Newark Airports, the Lincoln and
Holland Tunnels, the George Washington and Staten Island Bridges, the PATH
train system, the Port Authority Bus
Terminal, and the Port Newark and Port
Elizabeth Marine Terminals.
After the Port Authority Police, the
five largest transportation-related
police forces were employed by
the New York State Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (694 officers),
Los Angeles World Airports (577),
Maryland Transportation Authority
(456), Washington, D.C. Metropolitan
Area Transit Authority (442), and
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit
Authority (MARTA) (309).
Law enforcement services for some
large airport and transit systems are
provided by a local police department
or sheriff ’s office. For example, the
police departments in New York
City and Chicago are responsible for
the subway systems in those cities.
In addition, the Chicago Police also
provide law enforcement services
for O’Hare and Midway airports,
working in conjunction with the 251
unarmed sworn officers of the Chicago
Department of Aviation.

J u ly 2011	

Table 11
Fifty largest state and local law enforcement agencies with transportation-related
jurisdictions, by number of full-time sworn personnel, 2008
Agency
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Los Angeles World Airports
Maryland Transportation Authority
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)
Chicago Department of Aviation
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
New Jersey Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)
Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority
Dallas Area Rapid Transit
Delaware River Port Authority
Maryland Transit Administration
Port of San Diego
Port of Los Angeles
Wayne County Airport Authority
Port of Seattle
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Metra (Chicago area)
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
Lambert - St. Louis International Airport
Virginia Port Authority
Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority
Minneapolis - St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission
Tampa International Airport
Georgia Ports Authority
San Antonio International Airport
Anchorage International Airport
Salt Lake City International Airport
Nashville International Airport
Minneapolis - St. Paul Metro Transit
Kansas City International Airport
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Port of Portland
Delaware River & Bay Authority
Memphis International Airport
Alabama State Port Authority
Indianapolis Airport Authority
Port of Houston Authority
Port of New Orleans
Allegheny Port Authority
Jacksonville Aviation Authority
T.F. Green Airport (Rhode Island)
Columbus Airport Authority
Utah Transit Authority
Albuquerque International Sunport

Full-time sworn officers
1,667
694
577
456
442
309
256
256
251
237
206
201
192
179
156
144
140
139
133
125
98
97
96
91
89
88
86
82
80
78
66
65
65
61
60
54
54
53
50
49
48
47
46
44
42
42
42
41
40
40

11

Methodology
The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS)
Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) is conducted
every 4 years to provide a complete
enumeration of agencies and their employees. Employment data are reported
by agencies for sworn and nonsworn
(civilian) personnel and, within these
categories, by full-time or part-time
status.
Agencies also complete a checklist of
functions they regularly perform, or
have primary responsibility for, within
the following areas: patrol and response,
criminal investigation, traffic and
vehicle-related functions, detentionrelated functions, court-related
functions, special public safety functions
(e.g., animal control), task force
participation, and specialized functions
(e.g., search and rescue).

Data were collected on behalf of BJS by
the National Opinion Research Center
(NORC) at the University of Chicago.
More than half (52%) of all responses
were submitted in hardcopy version by
mail or fax. Another 41% were received
through a secure website operated by
NORC. The remaining 7% of agencies
did not respond by website, mail, or
fax within the allotted timeframe and
were contacted by phone with BJS’s assistance. The information necessary to
determine eligibility was obtained from
all agencies.
Responding agencies were screened for
eligibility and were excluded if any of
the following conditions existed on the
CSLLEA reference date of September 30,
2008. The percentage of agencies from
the original master list that were ruled
ineligible through each criterion is in
parentheses.
The agency employed only part-time
officers, and their total combined
works hours averaged less than 35
hours per week (5.1% of agencies
from master list excluded).

The CSLLEA provides national data
on the number of state and local law
enforcement agencies and employees
for local police departments, sheriffs’
offices, state law enforcement agencies,
and special jurisdiction agencies. It also
serves as the sampling frame for BJS
surveys of law enforcement agencies.

„„

„„

The agency was closed, represented a
duplicate listing, or was otherwise an
invalid entry (2.2% excluded).

The 2008 CSLLEA form was mailed to
20,110 agencies that were determined to
potentially be operating on the reference
date of September 30, 2008. This master
list was created by compiling information from the following sources:

„„

The agency contracted or outsourced
to another agency for performance of
all services (1.7% excluded).

„„

The agency did not employ personnel
with general arrest powers (0.6%
excluded).

„„

The agency did not operate with
funds from a state, local, special
district, or tribal government (0.6%
excluded).

„„

All sworn officers volunteered their
time on an unpaid basis (0.3%
excluded).

„„

The 2004 CSLLEA

„„

Lists provided by Peace Officer
Standards and Training offices and
other state agencies

„„

An FBI list of agencies requesting
new identifiers since the 2004
CSLLEA

Data on number and type of personnel
were obtained from all eligible agencies.
Data on agency functions were obtained
from 99.0% and on primary duty area of
sworn personnel from 99.4% of eligible
agencies.
The ratios of personnel per 100,000
residents were calculated using final
population estimates published by
the Census Bureau for July 1st of each
CSLLEA year. The ratios for countylevel agencies in appendix table 8
exclude the population of municipalities
within the counties that were operating
their own police departments.
The counts generated by the CSLLEA are
more inclusive than those of the FBI’s
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. The CSLLEA includes all officers
with arrest powers regardless of function,
while the UCR data exclude officers not
paid out of police funds. This exclusion
generally pertains to officers working
exclusively for jails or courts.
Another reason the UCR counts are
lower than those from the CSLLEA is
that the UCR excludes some agencies
that do not have an Originating Agency
Identifier (ORI) assigned by the FBI.
Some agencies without an ORI are still
included in the UCR employee counts
(but not in the agency counts) because
they report their data to another agency,
which reports it to the FBI. Overall, the
UCR data cover about 95% of the U.S.
population, while the CSLLEA covers
100%. In addition to greater population
coverage, the CSLLEA has counted about
8% more sworn personnel than the UCR
in 2000, 2004, and 2008 (table 12). Over
time, the employment growth trends
recorded by the CSLLEA have been consistent with those recorded by the UCR.

Table 12
Comparison of CSLLEA and Uniform Crime Reports data, 1992–2008
Year
2008
2004
2000
1996
1992

12	

Number of agencies reporting Total full-time employees
Full-time sworn personnel Population covered (in millions)
CSLLEA
UCR
CSLLEA
UCR
CSLLEA
UCR
CSLLEA
UCR
17,985
14,169
1,133,915
1,024,228
765,246
708,569
304
286
17,876
14,254
1,076,897
970,588
731,903
675,734
294
278
17,784
13,535
1,019,496
926,583
708,022
654,601
282
265
18,229
13,025
921,968
829,858
663,535
595,170
265
249
17,360
13,032
846,410
748,830
608,113
544,309
255
242

Officers per 100,000 population
CSLLEA
UCR
251
248
250
243
251
247
246
239
237
225

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

Appendix Table 1
Percent of state and local law enforcement employees, by type of agency, 2008
Type of agency
All agencies
Local police
Sheriff’s office
Primary state
Special jurisdiction
Constable/marshal

Agencies
100%
69.5%
17.0
0.3
9.6
3.5

Full-time employees
Total
Sworn Nonsworn
100%
100%
100%
52.3%
60.3%
35.8%
31.2
23.9
46.2
8.2
7.9
8.8
8.0
7.4
9.0
0.4
0.5
0.2

Part-time employees
Total
Sworn
Nonsworn
100%
100%
100%
57.9%
63.1%
53.9%
26.0
25.7
26.2
0.9
0.1
1.6
14.6
10.1
18.2
0.5
0.9
0.2

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers. Detail may add to total
because of rounding.

Appendix Table 2
Percent distribution of full-time state and local law enforcement
employees, by size of agency, 2008
Size of agency*
All agencies
1,000 or more officers
500-999
250-499
100-249
50-99
25-49
10-24
5-9
2-4
0-1

Agencies
100%
0.5%
0.5
1.3
4.3
7.2
13.4
23.9
19.2
17.9
11.8

Total
100%
28.8%
8.3
11.7
15.4
12.0
11.0
8.7
2.9
1.0
0.2

Full-time employees
Sworn
Nonsworn
100%
100%
30.2%
25.9%
7.9
9.2
11.0
13.3
15.1
16.0
11.8
12.6
10.9
11.2
8.8
8.5
3.0
2.5
1.2
0.6
0.3
0.2

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time
officers. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.
*Based on number of full-time sworn personnel.

Appendix Table 3
Percent distribution of full-time local police employees, by size
of agency, 2008
Size of agency*
All agencies
1,000 or more officers
500-999
250-499
100-249
50-99
25-49
10-24
5-9
2-4
0-1

Agencies
100%
0.4%
0.3
0.8
3.6
6.5
12.3
22.8
19.9
21.1
12.2

Total
100%
32.9%
6.7
8.1
14.4
12.3
11.4
9.4
3.3
1.4
0.2

Full-time employees
Sworn
Nonsworn
100%
100%
32.6%
33.6%
6.5
7.2
7.8
9.0
14.1
15.5
12.2
12.6
11.6
10.8
9.7
8.3
3.6
2.4
1.7
0.5
0.3
0.1

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time
officers. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.
*Based on number of full-time sworn personnel.

Appendix Table 4
Percent distribution of full-time sheriffs’ employees, by size of agency, 2008
Size of agency*
All agencies
1,000 or more officers
500-999
250-499
100-249
50-99
25-49
10-24
5-9
2-4
0-1

Agencies
100%
0.4%
0.9
3.2
7.8
10.7
18.7
29.7
18.6
8.5
1.5

Total
100%
17.0%
9.7
18.3
19.3
12.7
11.6
8.5
2.4
0.5
0.1

Full-time employees
Sworn
100%
18.0%
9.4
19.0
19.7
12.6
11.0
7.8
2.1
0.4
--

Nonsworn
100%
15.9%
10.1
17.6
18.9
12.7
12.3
9.3
2.7
0.5
0.1

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers. Detail may not sum to
total because of rounding.
--Less than 0.05%.
*Based on number of full-time sworn personnel.

J u ly 2011	

13

Appendix Table 5
Fifty largest state and local law enforcement agencies, by number
of full-time sworn personnel, 2008
Agency
New York City (NY) Police
Chicago (IL) Police
Los Angeles (CA) Police
Los Angeles County (CA) Sheriff
California Highway Patrol
Philadelphia (PA) Police Department
Cook County (IL) Sheriff
Houston (TX) Police
New York State Police
Pennsylvania State Police
Washington (DC) Metropolitan Police
Texas Department of Public Safety
Dallas (TX) Police
Phoenix (AZ) Police
Miami-Dade (FL) Police
New Jersey State Police
Baltimore (MD) Police
Las Vegas (NV) Metropolitan Police
Nassau County (NY) Police
Suffolk County (NY) Police
Harris County (TX) Sheriff
Massachusetts State Police
Detroit (MI) Police
Boston (MA) Police
Riverside County (CA) Sheriff
Illinois State Police
San Antonio (TX) Police
Milwaukee (WI) Police
San Diego (CA) Police
San Francisco (CA) Police
Honolulu (HI) Police
Baltimore County (MD) Police
Columbus (OH) Police
Virginia State Police
North Carolina State Highway Patrol
San Bernardino County (CA) Sheriff
Orange County (CA) Sheriff - Coroner
Michigan State Police
Atlanta (GA) Police
Charlotte - Mecklenburg (NC) Police
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Police
Jacksonville (FL) Sheriff
Broward County (FL) Sheriff
Cleveland (OH) Police
Florida Highway Patrol
Indianapolis (IN) Metropolitan Police
Prince George’s County (MD) Police
Ohio State Highway Patrol
Memphis (TN) Police
Denver (CO) Police

14	

Full-time sworn personnel
36,023
13,354
9,727
9,461
7,202
6,624
5,655
5,053
4,847
4,458
3,742
3,529
3,389
3,388
3,093
3,053
2,990
2,942
2,732
2,622
2,558
2,310
2,250
2,181
2,147
2,105
2,020
1,987
1,951
1,940
1,934
1,910
1,886
1,873
1,827
1,797
1,794
1,732
1,719
1,672
1,667
1,662
1,624
1,616
1,606
1,582
1,578
1,560
1,549
1,525

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

Appendix Table 6
State and local law enforcement agencies and full-time employees, by state, 2008
State
U.S. Total
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Number of agencies
17,985
417
50
141
367
509
246
143
49
4
387
628
7
117
877
482
392
371
389
348
146
142
357
571
448
342
576
119
225
76
208
550
146
514
504
114
831
481
174
1,117
48
272
155
375
1,913
136
69
340
260
233
529
90

Total personnel
Number
Per 100,000 residents
1,133,915
373
18,364
393
2,107
306
26,112
402
11,165
389
126,538
346
17,989
365
10,530
301
3,110
355
5,383
912
81,312
441
38,926
401
4,097
318
5,290
346
52,838
411
19,940
312
8,896
297
11,232
402
10,412
243
25,311
569
3,901
296
21,267
376
25,361
388
26,395
264
15,458
296
12,408
422
22,484
377
3,229
334
5,227
293
10,097
386
3,940
298
43,569
503
7,164
361
95,105
489
35,140
380
1,859
290
37,295
324
13,151
361
9,431
249
33,670
268
3,462
329
16,111
358
2,669
332
25,697
412
96,116
395
8,237
302
1,612
260
29,155
374
17,602
268
4,411
243
20,150
358
2,990
561

Sworn personnel
Number Per 100,000 residents
765,246
251
11,631
249
1,298
189
14,591
224
6,779
236
79,431
217
12,069
245
8,281
236
2,131
243
4,262
722
46,105
250
26,551
274
3,234
251
3,146
206
41,277
321
13,171
206
5,830
195
7,450
266
7,833
183
18,050
405
2,569
195
16,013
283
18,342
280
19,009
190
9,667
185
7,707
262
14,554
244
1,950
201
3,765
211
6,643
254
2,936
222
33,704
389
5,010
252
66,472
341
23,442
254
1,324
206
25,992
225
8,639
237
6,695
177
27,413
218
2,828
268
11,674
259
1,636
203
15,976
256
59,219
244
4,782
175
1,103
178
22,848
293
11,411
174
3,382
186
13,730
244
1,691
317

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.

J u ly 2011	

15

Appendix Table 7
Local police departments and full-time employees, by state, 2008
States
U.S. Total
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Number of agencies
12,501
309
42
96
252
341
165
120
36
1
270
366
4
71
701
361
284
230
243
250
117
86
314
455
346
220
430
54
123
38
187
476
89
391
350
54
678
354
129
965
39
184
80
251
788
90
50
171
204
159
429
58

Number
593,013
9,652
1,262
14,998
5,101
55,900
9,221
8,094
1,413
4,647
31,563
16,238
3,604
1,952
33,743
9,432
3,956
5,400
5,571
7,824
2,011
12,590
16,530
13,515
7,291
5,322
12,766
1,024
2,603
6,885
2,941
26,801
4,143
72,380
15,197
773
20,755
7,086
4,848
21,691
2,783
6,153
1,194
10,986
45,550
3,482
746
13,808
8,767
1,662
10,149
1,010

Total personnel
Per 100,000 residents
195
206
183
231
178
153
187
231
161
788
171
167
280
128
263
148
132
193
130
176
152
222
253
135
139
181
214
106
146
263
222
309
209
372
164
121
180
194
128
173
264
137
148
176
187
128
120
177
134
92
180
190

Number
461,063
7,314
793
10,518
3,924
39,692
6,881
6,668
1,188
3,742
22,506
12,947
2,807
1,498
28,358
7,881
3,284
4,191
4,713
6,318
1,592
10,494
13,703
11,408
5,947
3,960
9,810
802
2,111
4,497
2,322
21,875
2,882
54,145
11,933
629
16,944
5,538
3,640
19,122
2,258
4,934
900
8,620
34,610
2,653
587
10,947
6,635
1,427
8,171
744

Sworn personnel
Per 100,000 residents
151
156
115
162
137
109
139
190
136
634
122
134
218
98
221
123
110
150
110
142
121
185
209
114
114
135
165
83
118
172
176
252
145
278
129
98
147
152
96
152
214
110
112
138
142
97
95
140
101
79
145
140

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.

16	

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

Appendix Table 8
Fifty largest local police departments, by number of full-time sworn personnel, September 2008
City/county
New York (NY)
Chicago (IL)
Los Angeles (CA)
Philadelphia (PA)
Houston (TX)
Washington (DC)
Dallas (TX)
Phoenix (AZ)
Miami-Dade Co. (FL)
Baltimore (MD)
Las Vegas-Clark Co. (NV)
Nassau Co. (NY)
Suffolk Co. (NY)
Detroit (MI)
Boston (MA)
San Antonio (TX)
Milwaukee (WI)
San Diego (CA)
San Francisco (CA)
Honolulu Co. (HI)
Baltimore Co. (MD)
Columbus (OH)
Atlanta (GA)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Co.(NC)
Jacksonville-Duval Co. (FL)
Cleveland (OH)
Indianapolis-Marion Co. (IN)
Prince George’s Co. (MD)
Memphis (TN)
Denver (CO)
Austin (TX)
Fort Worth (TX)
New Orleans (LA)
Kansas City (MO)
Fairfax Co. (VA)
San Jose (CA)
St. Louis (MO)
Nashville-Davidson Co. (TN)
Newark (NJ)
Seattle (WA)
Montgomery Co. (MD)
Louisville-Jefferson Co. (KY)
El Paso (TX)
Miami (FL)
Cincinnati (OH)
DeKalb Co. (GA)
Oklahoma City (OK)
Tucson (AZ)
Albuquerque (NM)
Tampa (FL)

Total
36,023
13,354
9,727
6,624
5,053
3,742
3,389
3,388
3,093
2,990
2,942
2,732
2,622
2,250
2,181
2,020
1,987
1,951
1,940
1,934
1,910
1,886
1,719
1,672
1,662
1,616
1,582
1,578
1,549
1,525
1,515
1,489
1,425
1,421
1,419
1,382
1,351
1,315
1,310
1,283
1,206
1,197
1,132
1,104
1,082
1,074
1,046
1,032
1,020
980

Full-time sworn personnel, 2008
Percent change since 2004
Per 100,000 residents
-0.3%
432
1.7
472
6.9
256
-3.0
430
-0.8
226
-1.5
634
15.5
265
18.5
216
-268
-5.4
469
10.0
216
6.1
256
-2.6
194
-35.9
247
11.2
343
-1.7
150
2.1
329
-7.2
149
-10.5
240
7.7
214
6.2
242
6.1
248
4.6
320
12.7
220
2.8
205
3.6
372
-3.4
195
17.4
248
-23.2
229
8.5
257
11.2
197
14.0
211
-13.4
423
9.5
296
4.5
144
3.0
146
-3.5
379
8.5
216
0.8
472
2.8
213
15.2
129
1.6
188
1.7
186
4.4
256
3.2
325
13.1
168
1.7
190
7.4
191
7.3
195
2.0
288

Percent change since 2004
-2.4%
2.4
6.7
-4.7
-8.7
-3.2
11.4
7.5
12.0
-4.9
0.5
5.5
-3.8
-35.1
6.1
-9.7
1.6
-9.4
-14.3
6.7
5.0
2.9
-8.7
1.9
-1.5
8.8
-5.1
31.1
-22.6
2.2
1.0
-2.5
18.8
4.6
2.2
-2.2
-5.1
2.4
0.5
-2.6
11.5
-0.6
-2.7
-8.2
2.8
10.0
-2.9
2.7
-0.3
-3.8

--Change was -0.03%.

J u ly 2011	

17

Appendix Table 9
Sheriffs’ offices and full-time employees, by state, 2008
States
U.S. Total
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Number of agencies
3,063
67
0
15
75
58
62
0
1
0
65
159
0
44
102
92
99
104
120
65
16
24
11
83
87
82
114
55
93
16
10
21
33
57
100
53
88
77
36
65
0
46
66
94
254
29
14
122
39
55
72
23

Total personnel
Number Per 100,000 residents
353,461
116
5,696
122
0
0
7,703
119
3,637
127
51,883
142
6,615
134
0
0
22
3
0
0
41,614
226
17,225
178
0
0
2,753
180
13,670
106
7,487
117
3,503
117
3,900
139
2,152
50
14,484
325
1,018
77
3,451
61
4,937
75
8,724
87
6,304
121
4,336
147
4,841
81
1,515
157
1,762
99
1,594
61
244
18
5,090
59
1,468
74
11,671
60
14,527
157
706
110
11,372
99
3,421
94
3,422
90
1,946
15
0
0
6,950
154
845
105
10,696
171
29,225
120
3,636
133
179
29
10,447
134
5,742
87
1,397
77
8,289
147
1,362
256

Sworn personnel
Number Per 100,000 residents
182,979
60
2,631
56
0
0
2,253
35
1,577
55
27,707
76
3,727
76
0
0
8
1
0
0
18,167
99
10,026
103
0
0
1,275
83
9,173
71
3,184
50
1,523
51
2,111
75
1,657
39
9,568
215
343
26
2,166
38
1,475
23
4,909
49
2,625
50
1,948
66
2,873
48
712
74
1,024
57
1,061
41
127
10
3,908
45
1,122
56
4,021
21
7,701
83
437
68
5,748
50
1,439
39
2,306
61
1,593
13
0
0
4,457
99
428
53
5,071
81
12,340
51
1,283
47
126
20
8,412
108
2,987
45
1,016
56
4,163
74
571
107

Note: Excludes agencies employing less than one full-time officer or the equivalent in part-time officers.

18	

C e n s u s o f S tat e a n d Lo c a l L aw E n f o r c e m e n t A g e n c i e s , 2008

Appendix Table 10
Fifty largest sheriffs’ offices, by number of full-time sworn personnel, 2008
Agency
Los Angeles County (CA) Sheriff
Cook County (IL) Sheriff
Harris County (TX) Sheriff
Riverside County (CA) Sheriff
San Bernardino County (CA) Sheriff
Orange County (CA) Sheriff - Coroner
Broward County (FL) Sheriff
Palm Beach County (FL) Sheriff
Sacramento County (CA) Sheriff
Orange County (FL) Sheriff
San Diego County (CA) Sheriff
Hillsborough County (FL) Sherif
Wayne County (MI) Sheriffa
Alameda County (CA) Sheriff
Pinellas County (FL) Sheriff
San Francisco (CA) Sheriff
Jefferson Parish (LA) Sheriff
Oakland County (MI) Sheriff
Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriffa
Ventura County (CA) Sheriff
Marion County (IN) Sheriff
King County (WA) Sheriffa
Contra Costa County (CA) Sheriff
Collier County (FL) Sheriff
Lee County (FL) Sheriff
Polk County (FL) Sheriff
Calcasieu Parish (LA) Sheriff
Jefferson County (AL) Sheriff
Pima County (AZ) Sheriff
Jefferson County (CO) Sheriff
Gwinnett County (GA) Sheriff
Passaic County (NJ) Sheriff
Bexar County (TX) Sheriff
Milwaukee County (WI) Sheriff
Fulton County (GA) Sheriff
Shelby County (TN) Sheriff
Tulare (CA) County Sheriff
Kern County (CA) Sheriff
Richland County (SC) Sheriff
Orleans Parish (CA) Sheriff (Criminal)
Fairfax County (VA) Sheriff
Brevard County (FL) Sheriff
Johnson County (KS) Sheriff
Monmouth County (NJ) Sheriff
Pasco County (FL) Sheriff
Manatee County (FL) Sheriff
Fresno County (CA) Sheriff
Knox County (TN) Sheriffa
Franklin County (OH) Sheriff
El Paso County (CO) Sheriff
Dane County (WI) Sheriff

Full-time sworn personnel, 2008
Percent assigned to
Total respond to calls for service
9,461
31%
5,655
4
2,558
25
2,147
72
1,797
56
1,794
22
1,624
97
1,447
38
1,409
23
1,398
45
1,322
43
1,223
63
1,062
23
928
19
863
42
838
0
825
68
796
37
766
84
755
55
740
0
721
66
679
31
628
39
621
54
600
71
592
31
556
81
554
67
537
30
531
14
530
21
526
38
524
19
516
0
516
30
513
25
512
50
512
41
505
9
499
0
497
70
496
16
494
0
485
46
476
62
461
43
456
58
455
23
454
26
454
22

Primary duty areas of by sworn personnel
Law
Jail
Court
enforcement operations operations Other
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

aPercent responding to calls is based on the 2004 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies.

J u ly 2011	

19

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics

ncj233982

Washington, DC 20531

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POSTAGE & FEES PAID
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Permit No. G-91

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Penalty for Private Use $300

Office of Justice Programs • Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods • http://www.ojp.gov
The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of
Justice. James P. Lynch is the director.
This report was written by Brian Reaves. Andrea Burch provided statistical review
and verification of the report.
Catherine Bird and Jill Thomas edited the report, Barbara Quinn produced the
report, and Jayne Robinson prepared the report for final printing under the
supervision of Doris J. James.
July 2011, NCJ 233982
This report in PDF and in ASCII and its related statistical data and
tables are available on the BJS website at: http://www.bjs.gov/index.
cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2216.