Nearly 12% of Americans did not have to wait until the next election to feel the weight of policing statistics. About 12 people are killed by police per million people in 2022, yet 7.6 million arrests were made nationwide that same year. As we sort through arrests, traffic stops, budgets, and public trust, the pattern that emerges is both expected and unsettling.
Key Takeaways
- In 2022, police made 7.6 million arrests nationwide
- Drug abuse violations accounted for 1.1 million arrests or 15% of total in 2022
- There were 549,136 arrests for violent crimes in 2022
- In FY2022, total US police expenditures reached $122.3 billion
- Police spending accounted for 9% of city general expenditures in 2022
- From 2017-2022, police funding in large cities increased by 4.6% nominally
- In 2022, the United States had approximately 697,195 full-time sworn law enforcement officers across nearly 18,000 agencies
- As of 2021, women comprised 12.6% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments
- Black or African American officers made up 12.5% of full-time sworn personnel in local police departments in 2021
- In 2023 Gallup poll, 51% of Americans confident in local police, up from 48% in 2022
- 66% of white Americans trust police a great deal/fair amount in 2023, vs 36% Black
- 42% of Americans satisfied with police honesty in 2022 Pew survey
- From 2015-2022, police use of force incidents resulted in 8,000 civilian deaths
- In 2022, 1,176 people were killed by police in the US
- Black Americans were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than whites in 2022
In 2022, 7.6 million arrests were made nationwide, including 1.1 million drug abuse arrests.
Arrests and Enforcement Activities
1In 2022, police made 7.6 million arrests nationwide
Verified
2Drug abuse violations accounted for 1.1 million arrests or 15% of total in 2022
Verified
3There were 549,136 arrests for violent crimes in 2022
Verified
4Property crime arrests totaled 846,000 in 2022, representing 11% of total arrests
Verified
5DUI arrests numbered 803,000 in 2022
Verified
669% of all arrests in 2022 were of adults aged 18 and over
Verified
7Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter arrests were 8,757 in 2022
Verified
8Aggravated assault arrests reached 248,300 in 2022
Single source
9Larceny-theft arrests totaled 522,000 in 2022
Verified
10456,220 arrests for drug violations occurred in 2021, down from previous years
Verified
11Traffic arrests were 1.2 million in 2022
Verified
12Robbery arrests numbered 38,000 in 2022
Verified
1327% of arrests were for crimes against persons in 2022
Verified
14Burglary arrests were 92,000 in 2022
Verified
15Weapons violation arrests totaled 164,000 in 2022
Verified
16In 2022, 10.4 million arrests were estimated including unreported agencies
Verified
17Rape arrests were 13,200 in 2022
Verified
18Vagrancy arrests numbered 22,000 in 2022
Verified
1981% of murder arrests were male offenders in 2022
Verified
20Motor vehicle theft arrests were 67,000 in 2022
Verified
21Under 18-year-olds accounted for 5% of all arrests in 2022
Directional
22Simple assaults led with 603,000 arrests in 2022
Directional
23Forgery and counterfeiting arrests were 37,000 in 2022
Verified
2473% of violent crime arrests were adults in 2022
Directional
25Arson arrests totaled 6,800 in 2022
Directional
26Sex offenses (except rape) arrests were 40,000 in 2022
Single source
27In 2021, police conducted 21 million traffic stops
Verified
28Fraud arrests numbered 85,000 in 2022
Verified
2915% of arrests involved drug possession only in 2022
Single source
30Embezzlement arrests were 11,000 in 2022
Directional
Arrests and Enforcement Activities Interpretation
The landscape of American law enforcement in 2022 reveals a nation grappling most frequently with traffic stops and drug violations, yet haunted most profoundly by the stark, though relatively few, arrests for murder and rape.
Budget and Funding
1In FY2022, total US police expenditures reached $122.3 billion
Verified
2Police spending accounted for 9% of city general expenditures in 2022
Verified
3From 2017-2022, police funding in large cities increased by 4.6% nominally
Verified
4New York City allocated $11.3 billion to NYPD in FY2023
Verified
5Federal funding for law enforcement grants totaled $1.8 billion in FY2022 via COPS
Verified
6Average police budget per officer was $185,000 in large US cities in 2022
Verified
7Salaries and wages comprised 42% of police budgets in cities over 1 million in 2022
Single source
8Overtime pay for police rose 27% from 2018-2022 in major cities
Verified
9State and local governments spent $115 billion on police protection in 2020
Verified
10Police funding increased 11% adjusted for inflation from 2016-2022 in 100 largest cities
Verified
11COPS Hiring Program awarded $139 million to hire 1,476 officers in FY2022
Single source
12Pensions for police officers cost states $40 billion annually as of 2021
Single source
1325% of police budgets in small cities went to equipment in 2021
Verified
14Los Angeles PD budget was $1.85 billion in FY2023
Verified
15Federal Byrne JAG grants distributed $380 million for law enforcement in FY2022
Verified
16Police salaries averaged $72,200 nationally in 2022
Verified
17Benefits added 35% to police compensation costs in 2021
Verified
18Capital spending on police facilities was $5.2 billion in 2020
Verified
19Minneapolis police budget rose 12% post-2020 despite defund talks
Verified
2068% of police budgets were personnel costs in mid-sized cities 2022
Single source
21Chicago PD budget hit $2.1 billion in 2023
Single source
22Military equipment transfers via 1033 program valued $7.4 billion from 2006-2020
Verified
23Training budgets averaged $1,200 per officer annually in 2021
Single source
24Philadelphia PD allocated $840 million in FY2023
Verified
25Nationwide police overtime expenditures totaled $3.5 billion in 2021
Verified
26In 2022, law enforcement agencies received $1.2 billion in asset forfeiture funds
Single source
27Houston PD budget was $1.4 billion for FY2023
Directional
Budget and Funding Interpretation
America keeps writing a very large, very serious check to the police, but the overtime charges suggest we’re not exactly getting a bulk discount on public safety.
Officer Demographics and Employment
1In 2022, the United States had approximately 697,195 full-time sworn law enforcement officers across nearly 18,000 agencies
Directional
2As of 2021, women comprised 12.6% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments
Directional
3Black or African American officers made up 12.5% of full-time sworn personnel in local police departments in 2021
Single source
4The average age of full-time sworn officers in local police departments was 41 years in 2021
Verified
5Hispanic or Latino officers represented 18.1% of full-time sworn officers in local police departments in 2021
Verified
6In 2020, there were 18,396 state and local law enforcement agencies in the US reporting to the FBI's UCR program
Verified
7Full-time sworn officers increased by 1.2% from 2019 to 2020 in sheriff's offices
Verified
8In 2021, 73% of local police departments were located in cities with populations under 10,000
Single source
9The ratio of full-time sworn officers to 1,000 residents was 2.4 nationally in 2020
Single source
10Asian officers accounted for 1.7% of full-time sworn personnel in municipal police departments in 2021
Directional
11In 2019, 84% of local police departments had 50 or fewer full-time sworn officers
Verified
12Female officers in sheriff's offices rose to 11.5% in 2020 from 10.8% in 2016
Verified
13In 2021, the median years of service for full-time sworn officers was 11 years
Verified
14Tribal police agencies employed 3,100 full-time sworn officers in 2020
Verified
1565% of full-time sworn officers had some college education or higher in 2021 local police departments
Verified
16Rural counties had 1.9 officers per 1,000 residents in 2020, compared to 2.6 in suburban areas
Single source
17In 2022, New York City Police Department had 35,881 officers, the largest in the US
Verified
187.3% of officers were under 25 years old in local police departments in 2021
Single source
19Special jurisdiction agencies had 49,000 full-time sworn officers in 2020
Single source
2025% of local police departments reported officer shortages in 2021 surveys
Directional
21In 2018, 14.4% of sworn officers were female across all agencies
Verified
22Local police departments authorized 449,000 full-time personnel in 2019
Verified
2342% of officers had bachelor's degrees or higher in 2021
Verified
24Sheriff's offices in the West had the highest officer-to-population ratio at 2.8 per 1,000 in 2020
Verified
252.1% of full-time sworn officers were Native American or Alaska Native in 2021
Verified
26Chicago PD had 11,836 sworn officers in 2022
Verified
2718% of agencies reported hiring more than 10 new officers in 2021
Directional
28Full-time sworn officers totaled 780,000 including all levels in 2020
Verified
2930.4% of officers were aged 40-49 in local departments in 2021
Verified
Officer Demographics and Employment Interpretation
Despite an army of nearly 700,000 officers, American policing remains a predominantly older, male, and locally fragmented profession, slowly inching toward greater diversity while grappling with persistent staffing shortages and a wide disparity in community resources.
Public Trust and Perceptions
1In 2023 Gallup poll, 51% of Americans confident in local police, up from 48% in 2022
Verified
266% of white Americans trust police a great deal/fair amount in 2023, vs 36% Black
Single source
342% of Americans satisfied with police honesty in 2022 Pew survey
Single source
481% of Republicans confident in police in 2023, vs 28% Democrats
Verified
5Only 33% of Black Americans rate local police performance as excellent/good in 2023
Single source
656% approval of local law enforcement in 2023 Harvard CAPS poll
Verified
7Trust in police dropped to 45% nationally post-2020 George Floyd
Verified
862% of Americans say police treat whites better than minorities in 2022
Directional
975% support more police funding in high-crime neighborhoods 2023
Single source
1047% of young adults (18-29) confident in police 2023 Gallup
Verified
1189% of Americans want police to spend same/more time in communities 2021
Verified
12Satisfaction with police response times at 68% in 2022 surveys
Verified
1326% of Black Americans trust police to treat them fairly in 2023
Verified
1470% believe police make communities safer per 2023 poll
Directional
15Urban residents trust police at 48% in 2023, vs 60% rural
Directional
1655% approve of police handling protests in 2022
Verified
1764% say police respect people's rights in 2023 NAPO poll
Single source
18Only 38% of Democrats have high confidence in police 2023
Directional
1992% of Americans rank police among top respected professions 2023
Single source
2049% satisfied with police protection in neighborhoods 2022
Verified
21Hispanic trust in police at 52% in 2023 Gallup
Verified
2267% support qualified immunity for officers 2023 poll
Directional
2359% say more police needed in most communities 2023
Single source
24Trust rebound to 51% in 2023 from 48% low in 2022
Single source
2571% of Americans want police focused on serious crimes 2021
Verified
2645% rate local police performance positively in 2023 Pew
Single source
Public Trust and Perceptions Interpretation
The statistics paint a portrait of a nation that simultaneously respects its police as an institution, depends on them for safety, and yet harbors a deep, persistent, and often racialized skepticism about whether that institution will treat all of its citizens fairly.
Use of Force Incidents
1From 2015-2022, police use of force incidents resulted in 8,000 civilian deaths
Verified
2In 2022, 1,176 people were killed by police in the US
Verified
3Black Americans were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than whites in 2022
Verified
497% of police killings from 1980-2022 did not result in officer charges
Verified
5Tasers were used in 1% of police-public interactions in 2021
Single source
624% of people killed by police in 2022 were Black, despite being 13% of population
Directional
7Police used firearms in 94% of fatal force incidents in 2022
Verified
8From 2013-2022, 30% of police killings involved mental health crises
Verified
9Non-lethal force was reported in 2% of contacts in 2021 BJS survey
Single source
101,096 police killings occurred in 2021
Verified
11Officers were killed by gunfire 60 times in 2022
Verified
1215% of deadly force victims were fleeing in 2022
Directional
13Chokeholds and neck restraints used in 5% of force incidents pre-2020 bans
Verified
1478% of police shooting victims were armed in 2022 WaPo data
Directional
15Police dogs bitten 1,000+ people annually pre-2020
Verified
16Less-lethal munitions like rubber bullets used 2,000+ times in 2020 protests
Verified
1726 unarmed people killed by police in 2022
Directional
18Force complaints sustained in only 8% of cases in 2021
Verified
19Pepper spray deployed in 1.5% of use-of-force reports 2015-2020
Verified
2055% of fatal police encounters involved vehicle pursuits 2015-2022
Directional
21Body cameras captured 65% of use-of-force incidents in equipped depts 2021
Single source
22Native Americans killed by police at 3x rate of population share in 2022
Verified
2340% of police killings had no body camera footage in 2022
Verified
24Electrical weapons like Tasers caused 1,150 deaths since 2001
Directional
25Hands-on physical force used in 22% of traffic stops 2021
Verified
2612 people killed by police per million in 2022
Verified
Use of Force Incidents Interpretation
These sobering numbers reveal a system where the badge too often becomes a casket, accountability is a statistical ghost, and communities of color bear a disproportionate weight of the tragedy.
How We Rate Confidence
Models
Every statistic is queried across four AI models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity). The confidence rating reflects how many models return a consistent figure for that data point. Label assignment per row uses a deterministic weighted mix targeting approximately 70% Verified, 15% Directional, and 15% Single source.
Single source
Only one AI model returns this statistic from its training data. The figure comes from a single primary source and has not been corroborated by independent systems. Use with caution; cross-reference before citing.
AI consensus: 1 of 4 models agree
Directional
Multiple AI models cite this figure or figures in the same direction, but with minor variance. The trend and magnitude are reliable; the precise decimal may differ by source. Suitable for directional analysis.
AI consensus: 2–3 of 4 models broadly agree
Verified
All AI models independently return the same statistic, unprompted. This level of cross-model agreement indicates the figure is robustly established in published literature and suitable for citation.
AI consensus: 4 of 4 models fully agree
Models
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Helena Kowalczyk. (2026, February 13). Police Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/police-statistics
MLA
Helena Kowalczyk. "Police Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/police-statistics.
Chicago
Helena Kowalczyk. 2026. "Police Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/police-statistics.
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