How Many Police Officers Are In The United States

Baltimore Police Department Bpd

Baltimore Police Department provides law enforcement services in Baltimore, Maryland. It is amongst the best 20 police departments in the US. The commissioner under him leads the department.

There are nine districts:

• Southwestern District
• Southern District

There are nearly 3,100 sworn and civilian personnel who serve the population of 614,000 people and patrol around the area of approximately 90 square miles to serve the Baltimore Police Departments mission. The mission is to enforce the law in a fair, impartial, and ethical manner without harming the United States constitution.

Early Police In The United States

The United States inherited Englands Anglo-Saxon common law and its system of social obligation, sheriffs, constables, watchmen, and stipendiary justice. As both societies became less rural and agrarian and more urban and industrialized, crime, riots, and other public disturbances became more common. Yet Americans, like the English, were wary of creating standing police forces. Among the first public police forces established in colonial North America were the watchmen organized in Boston in 1631 and in New Amsterdam in 1647. Although watchmen were paid a fee in both Boston and New York, most officers in colonial America did not receive a salary but were paid by private citizens, as were their English counterparts.

In the frontier regions of the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there arose a novel form of the Saxon tradition of frankpledge: the vigilante. In areas where a formal justice system had yet to be established or the rudimentary policing apparatus had proved inadequate in the face of rampant crime, it was not uncommon for citizens to band together in committees of vigilance to combat crime and to introduce order where none existed. This socially constructive form of vigilantismlawlessness on behalf of lawfulnessand the question of when and where it degenerated into rank mob rule have been popular topics in American historiography.

America Is Losing Its Black Police Officers

After decades of gains, departments face a wave of retirements.

About the author: David A. Graham is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

When Ray Kelly was appointed commissioner of the New York Police Department, in 1992, he announced that his No. 1 priority was to recruit more Black officers to the force. Without these actions, there will be increased tension between the communities and the police, Kelly told The New York Times. Tension leads to hostilities and that will lead to more cries of racism in the department.

Kelly was not alone. The same year, Willie Williams became the first Black chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, which since 1980 had been under court order to produce a force that looked more like the city it patrolledand which had been roiled by the beating of Rodney King in 1991. Williams promised to hire more Black officers. So did mayors such as Marion Barry of Washington, D.C., and Chicagos Richard Daley, who in 1995 said, You have to have a diversity, and that diversity includes everyone.

These diversification efforts were largely successful. American police forces became far more representative of their communities, adding women, Black officers, and members of other minority groups. But some of Americas largest police forces are suddenlyand quicklygetting less diverse, as two trends converge: A wave of Black officers is reaching retirement age, and recruitment efforts to replace them are sputtering.

Morgan Ome contributed reporting.

Read Also: How Many Police Are Killed Each Year

Detroit Police Department Dpd

Detroit Police Department is a municipal police department responsible for protecting the people of Detroit, Michigan. The department was formed in 1865 and has become one of the largest police departments in the USA, with 2,200 officers who are always patrolling around 139 square miles protecting the 674,841 citizens.

The Detroit police department and its members are committed to providing a safe atmosphere to Detroits citizens. They make sure that the concerns of citizens are heard, and their problems are solved. To make the city a better place, DPD has assigned an NPO program through which all areas of the city will be protected, and it will bring the police departments and the public close to one another.

National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System

A variety of national, regional, state, and local information systems are available to law enforcement agencies in the U.S., with different purposes and types of information. One example is the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System , an interstate justice and public safety network owned by the states supporting inquiry into state systems for criminal history, driver’s license and motor vehicle registration, as well as supporting inquiry into federal systems, such as the Department of Homeland Security ‘s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Law Enforcement Support Center, the Drug Enforcement Administration National Drug Pointer Index , and the Federal Aviation Administration Aircraft Registry and the Government of Canada’s Canadian Police Information Centre .

NLETS operates primarily through a secure private network through which each state has an interface to the network that all agencies within the state operate through. The federal and international components operate very similarly. Users include all U.S. states and territories, some federal agencies, and certain international agencies. The primary operational site for the network is housed in Arizona, with a secure backup site located in the East Central U.S.

Also Check: How Do I Find A Police Officer By Name

Is Police Violence Against Civilians Widespread

Police brutality remains a problem in many advanced democracies. Officers worldwide have used aggressive means, such as rubber bullets and tear gas, to crack down on protesters, including French police during the Yellow Vests protests that began in late 2018. In October 2020, Nigerian security forces reportedly opened fire on protesters calling for police reform, killing twelve people. Police have also used deadly force when enforcing pandemic restrictions, including in Kenya.

The United States far surpasses most wealthy democracies in killings by police. U.S. police killed an estimated 7,638 people between 2013 and 2019. In comparison, at least 224 people died in encounters with Canadian police between 2013 and 2019. Some countries, such as Finland and Norway, have gone years without police killings.

In the United States, police are armed, increasingly with military-grade equipment. By contrast, more than a dozen other democracies generally do not arm their police with guns and may instead rely on firearm-equipped teams that can respond to high-risk situations. In Ireland, most police are not even trained to use firearms. UK police, who are usually unarmed, have themselves resisted calls for them to bear arms, in line with their philosophy of policing by consent, which maintains that police legitimacy is contingent on public approval of their actions. New Zealands typically unarmed police also follow this approach.

Dallas Police Department Dpd

The Dallas Police Department was created in 1881, is one of the best US police departments. The department is directed by the chief of police, which ensures that the police departments mission is to reduce crimes and break ethical barriers and protect the right of all. There are a total of eight patrol stations in Dallas to provide high-quality services to the people.

Dallass total population is 1.33 million on 383 square miles, against which there are 3,640 sworn officers and 556 civilian members who work day and night to make Dallas a peaceful and safe place for the locals. The department provides various services to its people like providing preventive, investigative, and enforcement services, working hand in hand with the communities to control the crimes, putting effort and gaining the peoples trust. The department not only serves the people but also treat every individual with dignity and respect.

Don’t Miss: How Long To Become A Police Officer

Are National Standards In Order

Accountability is critical to changing police culture, experts say.

Stamper believes uniformity â via the licensing of individual officers and the certification of police departments â is key.

All 18,000 departments operate under their own rules, based on their traditions, policies, procedures and recruitment methods, he said. He believes creating national standards â not for small things, but for larger constitutional issues â could improve the quality of policing.

If a licensed officer were to violate someoneâs rights â by illegally searching or arresting them, manipulating evidence, using unnecessary force or, of course, engaging in sexually predatory behavior â that officerâs license would be yanked.

Likewise, a city police department with a pattern of violations could lose its certification and be taken over the by the county. An offending sheriffâs department could be taken over by the state, he said.

Itâs pie in the sky, Stamper acknowledges, but until America changes the nature of the conversation around policing, things are destined to remain the same when it comes to crooked cops.

âThe forces of resistance are powerful,â he said. âIf you push the system, itâs going to push back with equal or greater force.â

How Many Police Departments Are In The United States

Is there a link between police killing people during routine patrols and the sheer number of police departments in the country?

Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey argued that there is.

A traffic stop for a broken taillight in Falcon Heights, Minn., left Philando Castile dead. Falcon Heights only has about 5,500 residents and contracts its police service from the not much larger city of St. Anthony, population about 8,500.

Ramsey, co-chair of a recent presidential policing task force, teased out the connections between law enforcement and race with Meet the Press host Chuck Todd on .

Todd said major urban police departments have been taking steps to ease racial tensions and asked Ramsey if the smaller departments had the same kind of resources. Ramsey painted a picture that went well beyond core funding.

“There are approximately 18,000 departments in the United States,” Ramsey said. “I would try to cut the number in half in the next 10 years or so, because you’re always going to have these kinds of issues as long as you have this many departments with different policies, procedures, training and the like.”

The numbers back Ramsey up on the number of departments. The final report from the task force he led said there are 17,985 U.S. police agencies.

Those are the kinds of departments involved in some of the more prominent deadly encounters with police in the past few years.

These smaller units face some real challenges.

Featured Fact-check

Our ruling

Recommended Reading: How To Work At A Police Station

Deadly Force And Death In Custody

In most states, law enforcement officers operate under the same self-defense laws as the general public. Generally, when the first responder or a member of the public is at risk of serious bodily injury and/or death, lethal force is justified. Most law enforcement agencies establish a use of force continuum and list deadly force as a force of last resort. With this model, agencies try to control excessive uses of force. Nonetheless, some question the number of killings by law enforcement officers, including killings of people who are unarmed, raising questions about alleged widespread and ongoing excessive use of force. Other non-fatal incidents and arrests have raised similar concerns.

The racial distribution of victims of US police lethal force is not proportionate to the racial distribution of the US population. Whites account for the largest racial group of deaths, but are under-represented, accounting for 45% of police killings . Blacks are over-represented, accounting for 24% of police killings . Hispanics are proportionately represented, accounting for 17% of police killings . Others are under-represented, accounting for 4% of police killings .

Why The Numbers Are Lacking

One of the greatest impediments to understanding the scope of police sexual assault is the victimsâ reluctance to report the crime.

âWho do you call when your rapist or offender is a police officer? What a scary situation that must be,â said Philip Stinson, an associate professor of criminal justice who served as principal investigator for the police integrity paper and whose research assistants maintain the BGSU database.

No one interviewed for this story could give an estimate, even ballpark, on how underreported these types of crimes might be.

âI have to think itâs a much worse problem than my data suggests,â said Stinson, himself a former police officer.

There are several reasons behind the muddy data. The federal government cannot compel states to make the nationâs 18,000 law enforcement agencies report the numbers. Even if they could, the Justice Department wouldnât have the resources to oversee and maintain such a database, Blanks said.

Unions also work hard to protect police officers and their reputations, he said.

âThey donât want their officers and membership shamed if something goes wrong,â Blanks said.

There also can be legal hurdles to obtaining basic information in such cases, he said, âand thatâs on purpose.â Some statesâ laws shield the identities of police officers who commit crimes, he said, while some jurisdictions include nondisclosure agreements in victim settlements.

Recommended Reading: How Can I Request A Police Report

How Many Police Departments Are There In The United States

There are 18,000 police departments in the United States currently with 697,195 full-time law enforcement officers up till 2019.

The structure of the police department is not standard in terms of structure, size, or governance. They vary based on the type of police department, local, state, sheriffs office, special jurisdiction, and others. Each department has its structure ranging from a single-officer police department to more than 30,000 officers.

State and local Police Departments in the United States

In this blog, we will discuss about the largest police departments in the US.

United States Of America

• Criminal Justice System

This country profile was migrated from the legacy system and the new text is under consideration of the respective government authorities.Policing overview: Law enforcement in the United States is decentralized. Federal authorities deal with violations of federal law that fall within their specific jurisdictions. There are approximately 65 different federal police agencies. At the local level, each of the 50 sovereign states has its own state legislature that enacts criminal statutes under their state constitutions. Most of the U.S. States have police at all levels – municipal, county and state level.

Recommended Reading: Can I See My Police Report Online

Work Environment About This Section

Police and detectives held about 795,000 jobs in 2020. Employment in the detailed occupations that make up police and detectives was distributed as follows:

Police and detective work can be physically demanding, stressful, and dangerous. Officers must be alert and ready to react throughout their entire shift. Officers regularly work at crime and accident scenes and encounter suffering and the results of violence. Although a career in law enforcement may be stressful, many officers find it rewarding to help members of their communities.

Some federal agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Secret Service, require extensive travel, often on short notice. These agents may relocate a number of times over the course of their careers. Other agencies, such as U.S. Border Patrol, may require work outdoors in rugged terrain and in all kinds of weather.

Redirecting Funds To Other Departments

After the murder of George Floyd, there have been widespread calls to defund the police. The idea behind this is that money is diverted from policing to the areas needed to prevent crime, for example, housing, employment, welfare, etc. There have been calls for this since society has seen a lack of reform in policing around police brutality and discrimination.

You May Like: How To Complain About A Police Officer

List Of Agencies And Units Of Agencies

Agencies in bold text are law enforcement agencies .

• Office of the Secretary of Agriculture
• Protective Operations Division

• Office of Inspector General

• Office of Inspector General
• Protective Service Division

• Office of Inspector General
• Office of Health, Safety and Security

• Office of Inspector General
• Protective Service Division

• Office of Inspector General

• Office of Inspector General
• Office of Professional Responsibility

What Training Do Police Undergo

The duration and type of training varies widely worldwide. Recruits in the United States spend significantly less time in police academies than those in most European countries. Basic U.S. training programs take twenty-one weeks on average, whereas similar European programs can last more than three years . In Finland and Norway, recruits study policing in national colleges, spending part of the time in an internship with local police, and earn degrees in criminal justice or related fields.

With hundreds of police academies, the United States lacks national standards for what recruits should learn. U.S. academies tend to emphasize technical skills rather than communication and restraint. According to a 2013 U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report , academies on average spent the most timeseventy-one hourson firearm skills, compared with twenty-one hours on de-escalation training and crisis-intervention strategies. In Germany, firearms training focuses on how to avoid using force. Japanese officers are trained to use martial arts.

You May Like: How To Get Police Records Online