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Sheriff’s Offices
A Sheriff’s office is a local law enforcement agency organized at the county level, directed by a sheriff. Most Sheriffs are elected officials. Sheriff’s deputies mostly patrol the unincorporated areas of the county, or those which lie between large municipalities. In most instances, sheriffs do not engage in municipal law enforcement because most incorporated towns and cities have their own police forces. These findings are based on the 2003 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey and 2004 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA).
Summary findings
- In 2004, 3,067 sheriffs’ offices with the equivalent of at least one full-time deputy were operating in the U.S. based on the CSLLEA.
- Based on the 2004 CSLLEA, sheriff’s offices were the second largest employer of sworn officers, accounting for 24% of the total number of full-time sworn officers employed. Local police departments were the largest employer, accounting for 61% of full-time sworn officers. The remainder were employed by the 49 primary State law enforcement agencies (8%) or special jurisdiction agencies (7%).
- In 2003, sheriffs’ offices had an estimated 330,274 full-time employees, including about 174,000 sworn personnel. From 1987 (the first year of the LEMAS survey) to 2003, overall employment by sheriffs’ offices increased by about 141,000, or by 75%. This was an average of 4.7% annually.
- Women comprised 12.9% of officers in 2003, about the same as in 1987 (12.6%).
- Racial and ethnic minorities comprised 18% of full-time sworn personnel in 2003, up from 13.4% in 1987.
- In 2003, starting salaries for entry-level deputies ranged from an average of about $23,300 per year in jurisdictions with populations under 25,000 to about $38,800 per year in jurisdictions with populations of 500,000 or more.
- In 2003, 70% of sheriffs’ offices required field officers to wear protective body armor at least some of the time while on duty. Fifty-five percent of sheriffs’ offices required field officers to wear body armor at all times while on duty.
- An estimated 96% of sheriffs’ offices authorized use of chemical agents such as pepper spray during 2003, up from 52% in 1990.
- Two-thirds of sheriffs’ offices regularly used video cameras in patrol cars during 2003, compared to about half in 2000. There were about 17,700 in-car cameras in use during 2003.
- In about a fifth of sheriffs’ offices, at least some officers in the field could use computers to access both vehicle and driving records during 2003. From 1990 to 2003, the percentage of sheriffs’ offices using infield computers increased from 6% to 55%.
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