While nearly 700,000 officers serve across thousands of agencies, the reality of American law enforcement is a complex portrait of sprawling responsibility, evolving challenges, and urgent questions about community trust, funding, and reform.
Key Takeaways
- In 2021, the United States had 697,195 full-time sworn law enforcement officers employed by 17,985 state and local agencies
- As of 2020, 72% of local police departments employed fewer than 25 sworn officers, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics
- In 2019, women comprised 12.6% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments nationwide
- In 2022, U.S. law enforcement made 7.7 million arrests for all offenses
- Arrests for violent crimes totaled 406,881 in 2022 per FBI data
- Drug abuse violations led to 1,153,771 arrests in 2022
- In 2021, there were 1,149 people killed by police shootings in the US per Mapping Police Violence
- Black Americans were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than whites in 2021
- 24 people were killed by police tasers in 2021
- In FY2022, state and local law enforcement spending totaled $141 billion
- Local government funded 46% of police expenditures in 2022 at $65 billion
- State governments spent $27 billion on law enforcement in 2022
- In 2023, 51% of Americans had confidence in police, down from 64% in 2004 per Gallup
- 68% of Black Americans disapproved of local police in 2023 per Gallup
- 75% of Republicans confident in police vs 29% Democrats in 2023
Here is a 10-word summary: American law enforcement is a vast, diverse, and heavily scrutinized public institution.
Funding and Equipment
- In FY2022, state and local law enforcement spending totaled $141 billion
- Local government funded 46% of police expenditures in 2022 at $65 billion
- State governments spent $27 billion on law enforcement in 2022
- Federal law enforcement funding was $39 billion in FY2022
- Police salaries and wages accounted for 42% of local expenditures in 2022
- 75% of agencies had SWAT teams in 2019, costing average $1.4 million each
- Body-worn cameras adopted by 50% of departments by 2020, average cost $1,000 per unit
- Military gear transfers via 1033 program: $7.4 billion worth since 1990
- Average police department budget in large cities: $500 million in 2022
- NYPD budget: $11.1 billion in FY2023
- LAPD budget: $1.85 billion in FY2023
- Chicago PD budget: $2.05 billion in 2023
- 80% of departments increased budgets post-2020 defund debates
- Average vehicle fleet cost per department: $2.5 million annually for maintenance
- Drones used by 1,000+ agencies, average cost $30,000 per unit in 2023
- Less-lethal weapons spending up 25% since 2020 to $100 million market
- 90% of funding for police tech from federal grants like COPS
- Training budgets averaged 2% of total expenditures, or $40,000 per agency
- Overtime pay for police: $5 billion annually nationwide in 2022
- Pension costs consumed 20% of local police budgets in 2022
Funding and Equipment Interpretation
America’s handshake with public safety is a $141 billion affair where we’re buying more cameras and gear for a workforce that’s increasingly militarized, yet we’re still skimping on the training, which explains so much.
Operations and Arrests
- In 2022, U.S. law enforcement made 7.7 million arrests for all offenses
- Arrests for violent crimes totaled 406,881 in 2022 per FBI data
- Drug abuse violations led to 1,153,771 arrests in 2022
- Property crime arrests numbered 629,330 in 2022
- 73% of all arrests in 2022 were males aged 18 and older
- Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter arrests: 8,757 in 2022
- Local police made 73% of all arrests reported to FBI in 2022
- Sheriff's offices accounted for 24% of arrests in 2022
- State police made 2% of total arrests in 2022
- 10.4 million criminal incidents handled by police in 2021 per NCVS
- Police response time averaged 11 minutes for crimes in 2021 NCVS data
- 42% of violent crime victims reported to police in 2021
- Traffic stops by police totaled 20 million annually pre-2020 per Stanford Open Policing
- 54% of traffic stops resulted in searches in 2019 per Open Policing Project
- NYPD made 363,483 arrests in 2022
- LAPD arrests: 52,717 in 2022
- Chicago PD arrests: 57,332 in 2022
- ICE conducted 142,580 arrests of criminal noncitizens in FY2023
- CBP Border Patrol arrests: 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY2023
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting showed 1.2 million violent crimes reported in 2022
- Clearance rate for murder was 52.3% in 2022 per FBI
- Property crime clearance rate was 12.1% nationally in 2022
- 56% of police officers used body-worn cameras in 2022 per BJS
Operations and Arrests Interpretation
While the millions of annual arrests and encounters paint a portrait of an active and sprawling justice system, the stubbornly low clearance rates for property crime and the sheer scale of certain offenses suggest we are often busy mopping the floor while the faucet is still running.
Personnel and Demographics
- In 2021, the United States had 697,195 full-time sworn law enforcement officers employed by 17,985 state and local agencies
- As of 2020, 72% of local police departments employed fewer than 25 sworn officers, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics
- In 2019, women comprised 12.6% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments nationwide
- Black or African American officers made up 12.5% of full-time sworn personnel in local police departments in 2019
- The average age of full-time sworn officers in local police departments was 41 years old in 2019
- 87% of local police departments required new hires to have at least a high school diploma in 2020
- In 2021, sheriff's offices had 179,382 full-time sworn deputies across 3,082 agencies
- 14.8% of sworn personnel in sheriff's offices were female as of 2020
- Hispanic or Latino officers accounted for 18.6% of full-time sworn personnel in sheriff's offices in 2020
- The median tenure for full-time sworn deputies in sheriff's offices was 10.5 years in 2020
- 93% of state police agencies required a bachelor's degree for entry-level troopers in 2018
- State law enforcement agencies employed 58,000 full-time sworn officers in 2018 across 50 primary agencies
- 7.2% of state police officers were female in 2018
- Black officers comprised 9.1% of state law enforcement personnel in 2018
- Average annual training hours for state officers were 474 hours in 2018
- In 2022, 18,625 officers separated from local police departments, with 44% due to retirement
- New York Police Department had 36,787 sworn officers as of 2023, the largest in the US
- Chicago Police Department employed 11,836 sworn officers in 2023
- Los Angeles Police Department had 9,093 sworn officers in 2023
- 65% of agencies reported officer shortages in 2023 per Police Executive Research Forum survey
- Average starting salary for police officers was $61,200 in 2023
- 82% of departments required psychological evaluations for hires in 2020
- Tribal law enforcement agencies had 3,034 full-time sworn officers in 2018
- 11% of tribal officers were female in 2018
- 56% of tribal agencies were operated by Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2018
- Federal law enforcement officers totaled 137,000 in 2018, excluding military
- 19.1% of federal officers were female in 2018
- DEA had 4,385 special agents in 2022
- FBI employed 13,700 special agents as of 2023
- U.S. Marshals Service had 3,780 deputy marshals in 2023
Personnel and Demographics Interpretation
While the thin blue line is woven from nearly 700,000 sworn officers, the fabric is stretched thin by widespread shortages and reveals an aging, predominantly male, and locally fragmented force that is slowly becoming more diverse but still struggles to reflect the communities it serves.
Public Trust and Reforms
- In 2023, 51% of Americans had confidence in police, down from 64% in 2004 per Gallup
- 68% of Black Americans disapproved of local police in 2023 per Gallup
- 75% of Republicans confident in police vs 29% Democrats in 2023
- 42% of Americans reported protests against police in their area since 2020
- Trust in police dropped 10 points among whites post-2020 per Pew
- 81% support mental health professionals responding to nonviolent calls in 2023
- 66% of Americans oppose reducing police funding in 2023 per Monmouth poll
- Satisfaction with local police: 49% among Blacks in 2022 PPSS
- 75% of Hispanics satisfied with local police in 2022
- Police legitimacy score averaged 4.2/5 in 2022 NPC survey
- 28 cities under DOJ consent decrees for reforms as of 2023
- 93% of departments adopted de-escalation training post-2020
- Community policing programs in 85% of agencies per 2021 BJS
- Defund movement support fell to 15% nationally in 2023
- 64% believe police make communities safer per 2023 Harvard poll
- Complaints about police bias: 12% of public contacts in 2022 PPSS
- 55% approve of police response to protests since 2020 per Pew
- Ban-the-box policies adopted in 37 states affecting police hiring perceptions
- 70% support civilian review boards for oversight in 2023
Public Trust and Reforms Interpretation
While public confidence in police is declining and deeply polarized, a resilient, albeit complicated, consensus for reform over defunding is pushing American policing into an era of more accountability and specialized support, even if no one is entirely happy about it.
Use of Force and Accountability
- In 2021, there were 1,149 people killed by police shootings in the US per Mapping Police Violence
- Black Americans were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than whites in 2021
- 24 people were killed by police tasers in 2021
- Police used force in 2% of public interactions in 2018 PPSS survey
- Serious force (weapon brandish, threat, use) in 0.4% of interactions per 2018 PPSS
- 83% of serious force incidents involved males per 2018 PPSS
- Black adults faced threat or use of force at 2.2% rate vs 1.3% whites in 2018
- 1,247 officer-involved killings in 2022 per Washington Post database
- 26% of people killed by police in 2022 were Black
- Officers fired their weapons in 418 fatal shootings in 2022
- DOJ found pattern of excessive force in 5 major departments post-2015
- 61% of use-of-force incidents involved unarmed suspects per 2020 study
- Sustained complaints against officers: 8% of 31,000 filed in 2010 per BJS
- Civilian complaints led to discipline in 12% of cases in 2008-2009
- Use of force policy violations sustained in 11% of complaints per Cato Institute
- 1,146 new officer-involved fatalities in 2023 per Mapping Police Violence
- Police killed 277 people in mental health crises in 2023
- 15% of police killings involved tasers or other non-firearm weapons in 2023
- NYPD use of force incidents: 4,239 in 2022
- LAPD force reports: 5,096 in 2022
- Chicago PD complaints: 11,000+ use of force allegations in 2022
- 33 officers convicted of murder/manslaughter criminally since 2005 per DoJ
Use of Force and Accountability Interpretation
The numbers reveal a system where force is statistically rare yet devastatingly common, where accountability often seems like a ghost in the machine, and where the shadow of racial disparity and crisis response failures looms larger than the percentage signs suggest.
Sources & References
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