Law Enforcement facts & stats

Question 1

About how many of those U.S. police agencies are local city or town police departments?

Accepted Answer

about 12,501 local departments. Local departments make up the large majority of all law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Question 2

In what year did Boston establish what's considered the first organized, publicly funded, full-time professional police force in the U.S.?

Accepted Answer

1838. Before that, cities relied on informal night watches rather than a professional police department.

Question 3

By 2016, inflation-adjusted per-person spending on U.S. policing had risen to about how much, more than triple its 1951 level?

Accepted Answer

about $286 per person. Policing budgets have grown substantially over the decades even after adjusting for inflation.

Question 4

In 2010, about how many arrests (excluding traffic violations) were reported across the United States?

Accepted Answer

about 13.1 million. That figure covers arrests reported by law enforcement agencies nationwide in a single year.

The basics