U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bulletin

June 2016, NCJ 249757

Sheriffs’ Office Personnel, 1993–2013

Andrea M. Burch, BJS Statistician

HIGHLIGHTS

 During 2013, sheriffs’ offices accounted for a fifth 

(20%) of the nation’s 15,400 general purpose state 

and local law enforcement agencies.

 Sheriffs’ offices employed about a third (34%) of 

all full-time general purpose law enforcement 

personnel during 2013.

 About 189,000 (54%) full-time sheriffs’ office 

employees were sworn officers, making up about 

a quarter (26%) of all full-time general purpose law 

enforcement personnel in 2013.

 Between 2007 and 2013, the number of full-time 

sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices increased by 

10%, while civilian personnel decreased by 6%.

 In 2013, about 14% of full-time sworn officers in 

sheriffs’ offices were female compared to 12% 

in 2007.

 Nationally, about 12% of first-line supervisors 

in sheriffs’ offices were female in 2013.

 From 2007 to 2013, minority personnel among 

full-time officers in sheriffs’ offices increased 

by more than 7,000 (up 22%), from 32,700 to 

40,100 officers.

 For the first time, Hispanic or Latino officers made 

up the largest minority group (11%) of full-time 

sworn officers employed by sheriffs’ offices in 2013. 

 Full-time sworn officers who were Asian, Native 

Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islanders; or American 

Indian or Alaska Natives increased from 1.1% in 

1993 to 2.0% in 2013.

On January 1, 2013, an estimated 3,012 sheriffs’ 

offices employed 352,000 full-time sworn and 

civilian personnel to perform a variety of law 

enforcement, jail, and court-related duties nationwide 

(figure 1). This total included 189,000 sworn officers 

(those with general arrest powers) and 163,000 nonsworn 

or civilian employees. Growth among full-time civilian 

employees had outpaced growth among sworn personnel 

from 1993 to 2007. However, that trend reversed between 

2007 and 2013 when the number of full-time sworn 

officers increased by 16,700 (up 10%) and the number of 

civilian employees decreased by 11,100 (down 6%).

This report presents data on persons employed by the 

nation’s sheriffs’ offices and employment trends from 1993 

to 2013. Data are from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 

(BJS) Law Enforcement Management and Administrative 

Statistics (LEMAS) survey. BJS conducts the survey 

periodically among a nationally representative sample of 

general purpose state and local law enforcement agencies.1 

Figure 1

Full-time sheriffs’ office employees, selected 

years 1993–2013

Note: See appendix table 9 for estimates and standard errors.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement 

Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 

1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2013.

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

Total

Civilian

Sworn

1993 1997 2000 2003 2007 2013

Number

1General purpose law enforcement agencies include municipal, county, 

and tribal police departments; most sheriffs’ offices; and primary state 

law enforcement agencies. It excludes special purpose agencies (e.g., 

those with jurisdiction in parks, schools, airports, subways, hospitals, 

housing authorities, and government buildings) and sheriffs’ offices 

without law enforcement responsibilities.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 2

The survey collects information on personnel, budgets, 

operations, policies, equipment, and information systems. This 

report presents personnel data from the 2013 LEMAS, the 

most recent data available, and makes comparisons with data 

from prior years where appropriate. 

Sheriffs’ offices are local law enforcement agencies typically 

organized at the county level and directed by a sheriff, 

who is usually an elected official. Like municipal police 

departments, sheriffs’ offices perform a wide range of law 

enforcement functions, including responding to criminal 

incidents and calls for service. Sheriffs’ offices also typically 

operate local jails and provide court-related services which 

are functions that set them apart from most municipal police 

departments. Although sheriffs’ offices may have countywide 

jail and court-related responsibilities, their law enforcement 

jurisdiction may exclude county areas served by county or 

municipal police departments.

About a quarter of general purpose state and local law 

enforcement officers worked for sheriffs’ offices

In 2013, sheriffs’ offices made up a fifth (20%) of general 

purpose state and local law enforcement agencies operating 

in the United States and employed about a third (34%) of all 

full-time personnel, including about a quarter (26%) of the 

nation’s sworn personnel and about half (51%) of all civilian 

employees (figure 2). Sworn personnel accounted for 54% of 

full-time personnel employed by sheriffs’ offices, compared to 

79% of full-time staff in local police departments (appendix 

table 1).

Sheriffs’ offices employed 5,600 more full-time sworn and 

civilian employees in 2013 than in 2007 (up 1.6%) (table 1). 

While growth in the number of full-time sworn personnel in 

sheriffs’ offices has slowed in recent years, the total number 

of full-time employees increased by 57% (127,700 employees) 

since 1993.

Much of the increase in full-time sheriffs’ office personnel 

can be attributed to the increase in the number of civilian 

employees hired since 1993. From 1993 to 2013, the number of 

full-time sworn personnel increased by 21% (up 33,100), and 

the number of full-time civilian employees increased by 138% 

(up 94,500).

The largest change in the number of full-time employees of 

sheriffs’ offices occurred between 1993 and 1997, when the 

number of full-time employees increased by 18% (up 39,200). 

The overall increase in full-time employment was driven by 

a 12% increase (up 18,900) in sworn personnel and a 30% 

increase (up 20,300) in civilian employees.

More full-time sworn personnel were employed in 2013 

than in previous years

From 2007 to 2013, the number of full-time sworn personnel 

increased by 16,700 employees (up 10%). Sheriffs’ offices 

employed more sworn personnel in 2013 than in the previous 

two decades, an increase of 14,700 (up 8%) since 2003 and 

about 33,100 (up 21%) since 1993.

While the number of full-time sworn personnel increased 

from 2007 to 2013, the number of full-time civilian employees 

decreased by 11,100 (down 6%). The percentage of full-time 

sheriffs’ office positions occupied by civilian employees grew 

from 31% in 1993 to 50% in 2007 before decreasing to 46% 

in 2013.

Table 1

Sheriffs' offices and employees, selected years 1993–2013

Full-time employees Part-time employees

Year Number of agencies Total Sworn Civilian Total Sworn Civilian

1993 3,084 224,236 155,815 68,421 19,660 11,048 8,612

1997 3,088 263,427 174,673 88,754 20,025 10,633 9,392

2000 3,070 293,823 164,711 129,112 22,737 10,300 12,437

2003 3,061 330,274 174,251 156,022 23,884 9,498 14,386

2007* 3,012 346,337 172,241 174,096 22,747 8,831 13,916

2013* 3,012 351,904 188,952 162,952 25,179 12,356 12,823

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. See appendix table 10 for standard errors. 

*Excludes sheriffs’ offices without an area of primary law enforcement jurisdiction.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2013.

Figure 2

Percent of general purpose state and local law enforcement 

agencies, full-time sworn and civilian personnel, by type of law 

enforcement agency, 2013 Percent

0

20

40

60

80

100

Civilian personnel

Sworn personnel

Agencies

Local police Sheris' oce* Primary state

Note: Includes estimates on January 1, 2013. See appendix table 1 for estimates 

and appendix table 2 for standard errors. 

*Excludes sheriffs’ offices without an area of primary law enforcement jurisdiction.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 3

From 1993 to 2007, growth among full-time civilian employees 

of sheriffs’ offices outpaced growth among full-time sworn 

personnel. Civilian employment grew the most between 1997 

and 2000 (up 40,400 full-time employees or 45%). During the 

same time, the number of full-time sworn personnel decreased 

by 10,000 (down 6%), the largest decrease in sworn personnel 

from 1993 to 2013.

The number of part-time sworn personnel increased for 

the first time since 1993

From 2007 to 2013, the number of part-time sworn and 

civilian personnel employed by sheriffs’ offices increased 

from 22,700 to 25,200 employees (up 11%). As with full-time 

employment, the overall number of part-time personnel 

increased despite an 8% decrease in the number of civilian 

employees, from 13,900 in 2007 to 12,800 in 2013.

The number of part-time sworn personnel employed by 

sheriffs’ offices declined each time the LEMAS survey was 

administered, from 11,000 in 1993 to 8,800 in 2007. This trend 

was reversed when the number of part-time sworn personnel 

increased by 3,500 to approximately 12,400 in 2013 (up 40%). 

Sheriffs’ offices employed more part-time sworn personnel in 

2013 than in the two previous decades. From 2007 to 2013, 

growth among part-time sworn personnel outpaced growth 

among full-time sworn officers and represented the largest 

increase in personnel by employment type.

There were fewer small sheriffs’ offices in 2013 than in 

previous years

Agencies that employed the full-time equivalent of 24 or fewer 

sworn personnel made up a smaller proportion of sheriffs’ 

offices in 2013 (51%) than in 2007 (57%) (appendix table 3).2

From 2007 to 2013, the number of sheriffs’ offices employing 

Table 2

Sheriffs' offices and full-time personnel, by size of office, 2013

Agencies Full-time sworn personnel Full-time civilian personnel

Size of office Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

All sizes 3,012 100% 188,952 100% 162,952 100%

1,000 or more 16 0.5 37,482 19.8 35,305 21.7

500–999 34 1.1 21,785 11.5 16,729 10.3

250–499 85 2.8 29,599 15.7 24,161 14.8

100–249 235 7.8 34,790 18.4 29,175 17.9

50–99 399 13.2 26,194 13.9 22,380 13.7

25–49 700 23.2 22,786 12.1 20,565 12.6

10–24 914 30.3 12,940 6.8 10,965 6.7

5–9 452 15.0 2,854 1.5 3,492 2.1

2–4 170 5.6 516 0.3 179 0.1

1 6 0.2 6 -- 0 0

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. Size of office is measured by the number of full-time equivalent sworn personnel and includes both full-time and part-time 

employees with part-time employees weighted by 0.5. See appendix table 11 for standard errors.

--Less than 0.05%.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Figure 3

Percent change in the number of sheriffs’ offices, by size of 

office, 2007 and 2013

Size of oce

-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

24 or fewer

25–99

100–499

500 or more

Percent change

Note: Size of office is measured by the number of full-time equivalent sworn 

personnel and includes both full-time and part-time employees with part-time 

employees weighted by 0.5. See appendix table 3 for estimates and standard errors.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2007 and 2013.

3See Sheriffs’ Departments 1993, NCJ 148823, BJS web, June 1996.

2The size of a sheriffs’ office is described in terms of the number of fulltime equivalent sworn positions rather than the number of full-time sworn 

positions in order to take part-time sworn personnel into account when 

measuring agency size.

the equivalent of 24 or fewer full-time sworn officers decreased 

from 1,708 to 1,542 (down 10%) (figure 3). Sheriffs’ offices 

employing 24 or fewer full-time equivalent sworn officers made 

up 62% of all sheriffs’ offices in 1993.3

While the number of large agencies increased overall from 

2007 to 2013, the largest percent increase occurred in sheriffs’ 

offices employing the equivalent of 500 or more sworn 

personnel. These agencies increased from 40 offices in 2007 

to 50 offices in 2013 (up 25%). Agencies employing between 

25 and 99 full-time equivalent sworn personnel increased by 

15%, from 952 offices in 2007 to 1,099 offices in 2013.

Most sheriffs’ office personnel were employed by 

large agencies

Twelve percent of sheriffs’ offices employed the full-time 

equivalent of 100 or more sworn personnel in 2013 (table 2). 

These large agencies employed 65% each of full-time sworn 
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 4

personnel (123,700) and full-time civilian employees 

(105,400). The proportion of full-time sworn personnel 

employed by these large offices in 2013 was about the same as 

in 1993 (66%) and 2007 (65%) (not shown). 

An estimated 16 sheriffs’ offices employed the full-time 

equivalent of 1,000 or more sworn personnel in 2013. These 

agencies made up less than 1% of all sheriffs’ offices and 

employed about 37,500 (20%) full-time sworn officers. The Los 

Angeles County Sheriffs’ Department was the largest sheriffs’ 

office in 2013 with 16,958 full-time employees, including 9,266 

sworn officers (not shown).

About half (51%) of sheriffs’ offices employed the full-time 

equivalent of 24 or fewer sworn employees and 9% of all 

full-time sworn personnel were employed by these agencies. 

Sheriffs’ offices that employed between 10 and 24 full-time 

equivalent sworn personnel made up 30% of sheriffs’ offices 

and employed 7% of full-time sworn sheriffs’ personnel.Two 

percent of full-time sheriffs’ officers worked in an agency with 

the equivalent of nine or fewer sworn personnel. Compared 

to the more than 600 local police departments employing the 

equivalent of one full-time position, an estimated six sheriffs’ 

offices employed the equivalent of one officer in 2013.4

About two-thirds of officers were employed by sheriffs’ 

offices serving 100,000 or more residents

In 2013, 1% of sheriffs’ offices served jurisdictions with a 

population of 1 million or more residents (table 3). These 

agencies employed about 45,900 full-time sworn personnel 

(24%). In comparison, these offices employed 20% of sworn 

personnel in 1993.

About 500 (17%) sheriffs’ offices served a resident population 

of 100,000 or more. As in previous LEMAS surveys, sheriffs’ 

offices serving 100,000 or more residents employed 67% of 

full-time sworn personnel. Nearly half (49%) of sheriffs’ offices 

served populations of between 10,000 and 49,999 residents and 

employed 18% of officers. Twenty-one percent (628) of sheriffs’ 

offices served jurisdictions with 9,999 or fewer residents and 

employed about 3% of sworn personnel.

Size of oce

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000

24 or fewer

25-99

100-499

500 or more 2007

1993

2013

Full-time sworn personnel

Figure 4

Full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of office, 

1993, 2007, and 2013

Note: Size of office is measured by the number of full-time equivalent sworn 

personnel and includes both full-time and part-time employees with part-time 

employees weighted by 0.5. See appendix table 13 for estimates and standard errors

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 2007, and 2013.

4See Local Police Departments, 2013: Personnel, Polices, and Practices, 

NCJ 248677, BJS web, May 2015.

Table 3

Sheriffs' offices and full-time personnel, by size of population served, 2013

Agencies Full-time sworn personnel Full-time civilian personnel

Population served Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

All sizes 3,012 100% 188,952 100% 162,952 100%

1,000,000 or more 35 1.2 45,883 24.3 46,997 28.8

500,000–999,999 68 2.3 22,564 11.9 20,711 12.7

250,000–499,999 108 3.6 25,944 13.7 21,844 13.4

100,000–249,999 287 9.5 32,872 17.4 25,587 15.7

50,000–99,999 416 13.8 22,106 11.7 20,096 12.3

25,000–49,999 618 20.5 20,084 10.6 13,962 8.6

10,000–24,999 853 28.3 14,289 7.6 10,227 6.3

9,999 or fewer 628 20.8 5,211 2.8 3,527 2.2

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. See appendix table 12 for standard errors.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

The number of officers increased by 52% in sheriffs’ offices 

with 500 to 999 sworn personnel from 2007 to 2013

From 1993 to 2013, the number of full-time sworn personnel 

in sheriffs’ offices increased 21%, from 155,800 to 189,000. 

With the exception of sheriffs’ offices employing the full-time 

equivalent of 24 or fewer officers, increases in the number 

of full-time sworn personnel occurred in all other agency 

size categories.

The largest overall increase from 1993 to 2013 in sworn 

personnel occurred among sheriffs’ offices employing between 

the equivalent of 25 and 99 full-time sworn officers, increasing 

from 35,300 in 1993 to 49,000 in 2013 (up 39%) (figure 4). 

Agencies of this size made up about 37% of all sheriffs’ offices 

and employed about 26% of all full-time officers in 2013.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 5

Between 2007 and 2013, the largest increase in the number 

of full-time sworn personnel occurred among sheriffs’ offices 

employing the full-time equivalent of between 500 and 999 

sworn officers, increasing from about 14,400 to 21,800 officers 

(up 52%) (appendix table 4). Sheriffs’ offices with the full-time 

equivalent of 25 or more sworn personnel employed more 

full-time and part-time sworn officers in 2013 than in 2007. 

Among sheriffs’ offices employing the full-time equivalent 

of 24 or fewer officers, the number of full-time officers was 

17,900 in 2007 and was 16,300 in 2013; this difference is not 

statistically significant. During the same period, the number 

of part-time sworn officers in these agencies increased by 60% 

from an estimated 2,100 to 3,300. In 2013, these small sheriffs’ 

offices employed 9% of full-time sworn personnel and 27% of 

all part-time officers.

About 14% of full-time sworn sheriffs’ office personnel 

were female in 2013

In 2013, about 26,100 (14%) of the full-time sworn personnel 

in sheriffs’ offices were female (figure 5). In comparison, 

females made up 16% of full-time sworn officers employed in 

sheriffs’ offices in 1997 and 12% in 2007. Between 1993 and 

2013, the number of full-time female officers employed by 

sheriffs’ offices increased by about 3,400. From 2007 to 2013, 

full-time female officers employed by sheriffs’ offices increased 

by 5,300 (up 25%) to 26,100.

Percent

0

5

10

15

20

1993 1997 2000 2003 2007 2013

Figure 5

Percent of full-time sworn female personnel in sheriffs’ offices, 

selected years 1993–2013

Note: See appendix table 14 for estimates and standard errors.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Adminstrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2013.

Table 4

Percent of full-time sworn female personnel in sheriffs' offices, 

by size of population served, 2013

Population served Sheriff

First-line 

supervisor

All full-time 

sworn personnel

All sizes 1.2% 11.9% 13.9%

500,000 or more 6.6 13.5 15.2

100,000–499,999 0.0 12.9 14.1

25,000–99,999 0.8 9.3 12.3

24,999 or fewer 1.5 9.5 12.0

Note: See appendix table 15 for standard errors.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Since 2003, sheriffs’ offices serving jurisdictions of 100,000 or 

more residents have employed a higher percentage of full-time 

female officers than offices serving populations of 99,999 or 

fewer residents. While larger jurisdictions continued to employ 

a greater percentage of full-time female officers than smaller 

jurisdictions in 2013, the biggest increase in female officers 

from 2007 to 2013 occurred among sheriffs’ offices serving 

populations of 49,999 or fewer residents (not shown).

In 2013, the percentage of full-time sworn female officers 

varied slightly across population sizes, ranging from about 

16% in jurisdictions serving 1 million or more residents 

to about 11% in jurisdictions serving between 10,000 and 

24,999 residents (appendix table 6).

Females held 12% of full-time first-line supervisory 

positions in 2013

For the first time in 2013, the LEMAS survey collected data 

on the full-time sworn female personnel in supervisory 

and managerial positions. About 12% of full-time first-line 

supervisory positions were held by females in 2013 (table 4). 

The percentage of females working in full-time first-line 

supervisory positions was less than that among full-time sworn 

personnel overall (14%).

Sheriffs’ offices serving 100,000 or more residents employed 

a higher percentage of full-time female first-line supervisors 

and full-time sworn female officers than offices serving 99,000 

or fewer residents. The largest jurisdictions (those serving 

populations of 500,000 or more residents) were more likely 

to employ a female sheriff than jurisdictions of other sizes. 

Overall, an estimated 1% of sheriffs were female, including 

about 7% of the sheriffs in jurisdictions serving 500,000 or 

more residents.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 6

More Hispanic officers were employed than any other 

minority group in 2013

In 2013, 22% of full-time sworn sheriffs’ personnel were 

members of a racial or Hispanic minority, compared to 19% 

in 2003 and 17% in 1993 (figure 6). Much of the increase in 

minority personnel employed by sheriffs’ offices from 1993 

to 2013 was due to the increase in Hispanic officers. The 

proportion of Hispanic officers grew from 6% of full-time 

sworn sheriffs’ employees in 1993 to 11% in 2013. In 

comparison, the proportion of black officers did not change 

significantly between 1993 (10%) and 2013 (9%).

The estimated 40,100 full-time sworn minority sheriffs’ officers 

employed in 2013 represented an increase of 7,300 officers 

(up 22%) from 2007. Sheriffs’ offices employed more full-time 

Hispanic officers than black officers for the first time in 2013. 

The number of full-time Hispanic officers grew from 13,900 

in 2007 to 19,400 in 2013 (up 39%). Full-time sworn black 

officers increased 7%, from 15,600 in 2007 to 16,600 in 2013. 

In 2013, 4,100 full-time personnel were members of other 

minority groups (Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific 

Islanders and American Indian or Alaska Natives) or were of 

two or more races. The proportion of officers in these groups 

doubled between 1993 (1.1%) and 2013 (2.2%).5

Among full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices during 

2013, 78% were white, 11% were Hispanic, 9% were black, 

and 2% were members of other minority groups (table 5). 

A larger percentage of full-time sworn Hispanic officers 

than black officers were employed by sheriffs’ offices serving 

jurisdictions of 500,000 or more residents. In comparison, a 

Table 5

Percent of full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs' offices, by race or Hispanic origin and size of population served, 2013

Population served Total White*

Black/African 

American* Hispanic/Latino

Asian/Native Hawaiian/

Other Pacific Islander*

American Indian/

Alaska Native*

Two or 

more races*

All sizes 100% 77.9% 9.2% 10.7% 1.6% 0.4% 0.2%

1,000,000 or more 100% 58.3 11.7 24.9 4.5 0.4 0.3

500,000–999,999 100% 76.9 8.9 11.8 1.8 0.6 0.1

250,000–499,999 100% 79.1 10.2 9.2 0.9 0.3 0.3

100,000–249,999 100% 88.4 7.5 3.1 0.4 0.6 --

50,000–99,999 100% 87.8 6.9 4.7 0.2 0.3 0.1

25,000–49,999 100% 88.6 7.4 3.4 0.2 0.2 0.1

24,999 or fewer 100% 85.2 9.1 4.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. See appendix table 17 for standard errors.

*Excludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin.

--Less than 0.05%.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Figure 6

Percent of minority full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ 

offices, selected years 1993–2013

Note: See appendix table 16 for estimates and standard errors.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin.

bIncludes Asians, Native Hawaiians, or Other Pacific Islanders; American Indians or 

Alaska Natives; and persons of two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Adminstrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2013.

Percent

0

5

10

15

20

25

Total

Othera,b

Hispanic/Latino

Black/African Americana

1993 1997 2000 2003 2007 2013

5Data on the number of sworn officers of two or more races were not 

collected in 1993.

larger proportion of black officers than Hispanic officers served 

resident populations of 499,999 or fewer residents. Sheriffs’ 

offices serving jurisdictions of 1 million or more residents 

employed more officers who were Asian, Native Hawaiian, or 

Other Pacific Islanders than any other size of office. American 

Indian or Alaska Natives made up about an equal proportion 

of officers in sheriffs’ offices, regardless of jurisdiction size.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 7

Methodology

Survey overview

The Law Enforcement Management and Administrative 

Statistics (LEMAS) survey periodically collects data from 

more than 3,000 general purpose law enforcement agencies, 

including state police and highway patrol agencies, local 

police departments, and sheriffs’ offices. The survey included 

all agencies that employed 100 or more sworn officers and a 

nationally representative sample of smaller agencies.

Previous LEMAS data collections occurred in 1987, 1990, 

1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2007. A limited data collection 

that focused on community policing was conducted in 1999. 

These past surveys obtained data on functions performed, 

operating expenditures, job functions of sworn and nonsworn 

employees, officer salaries and special pay, demographic 

characteristics of officers, education and training requirements, 

types of weapons authorized, body armor policies, computers 

and information systems, types of vehicles operated, the use of 

special units, task force participation, and community policing 

activities. Survey questions were updated with each iteration 

to reflect emerging issues in the field of law enforcement. 

Publications based on prior LEMAS Surveys can be accessed 

on the BJS website.

Sample design and selection

The 2008 BJS Census of State and Local Law Enforcement 

Agencies (CSLLEA) (the most recent available) provided 

the sampling frame used for the 2013 LEMAS survey. Local 

police departments and sheriffs’ offices were chosen for the 

LEMAS survey using a stratified sample design based on the 

number of sworn personnel. The original 2013 LEMAS sample 

included 3,336 state and local law enforcement agencies. It 

was designed to be representative of all general purpose state 

and local law enforcement agencies in the United States, with 

separate samples drawn for local police departments and 

sheriffs’ offices. All 50 primary state law enforcement agencies 

(state police and highway patrol) were included. Agencies 

serving special jurisdictions (such as schools, airports, or 

parks), or with special enforcement responsibilities (such as 

conservation laws or alcohol laws) were considered out of 

scope of the survey.

In the 2013 LEMAS sample design, 933 sheriffs’ offices, divided 

into 7 strata based on the number of sworn officers employed, 

were to receive the survey. During the initial contact phase, 

38 of these offices were determined to not have an area of 

primary law enforcement jurisdiction and were dropped from 

the sample. All 350 offices employing 100 or more full-time 

sworn personnel were self-representing in the sample design 

and receive the survey. It was later determined that 17 of these 

self-representing offices did not receive the survey because of 

inaccurate contact information. 

The base weight for self-representing offices was 1.051 instead 

of the expected 1.000 (appendix table 8). The 6 remaining 

strata and their corresponding base weights were as follows: 

50 to 99 officers, 2.800; 25 to 49 officers, 4.412; 10 to 24 officers, 

5.497; 5 to 9 officers, 5.485; 2 to 4 officers, 6.190; and 

1 officer, 5.000.

Agency response rate

Of the 895 eligible sheriffs’ offices that received the survey, 

717 completed it, for a response rate of 80%. By size, the 

response rate ranged from 90% for agencies with 25 to 49 

full-time sworn deputies to 73% for those with 5 to 9 full-time 

sworn deputies. An adjustment factor unique to each stratum 

was used to account for nonresponse. These nonresponse 

adjustments and the resulting final analytical weights for each 

stratum are included in appendix table 8.

All offices, regardless of size, were asked to complete the 

80-item CJ-44 survey questionnaire. Most of the responses 

were received electronically through a survey website. For 

the 717 offices completing the survey, item nonresponse rates 

due to omission or invalid data were low for the data elements 

used in the report.

When a sheriffs’ office did not supply a response to a 

numerical item, a ratio imputation method was used. The ratio 

imputation used the value of the ratio of the numerical variable 

to the number of full-time sworn personnel for sheriffs’ offices 

that provided the numerical data. This ratio was computed 

for each population category and applied to the number of 

full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ offices with the missing 

data to produce the imputed value. Imputations were not used 

for categorical variables.

Accuracy of the estimates

The accuracy of the estimates presented in this report depends 

on two types of error: sampling and nonsampling. Sampling 

error is the variation that may occur by chance because a 

sample was used rather than a complete enumeration of the 

population. Nonsampling error can be attributed to many 

sources such as the inability to obtain information about all 

cases in the sample, inability to obtain complete and correct 

information from the administrative records, and processing 

errors. In any survey, the full extent of the nonsampling error 

is never known.

The sampling error, as measured by an estimated standard 

error, varies by the size of the estimate and the size of the base 

population. Because the LEMAS data were collected from a 

sample, the results are subject to sampling error. Variance and 

standard error estimates for the 2013 LEMAS were generated 

using the SUDAAN statistical software package. The Taylor 

linearization method for a “stratified without replacement” 

design was used for these calculations. 
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 8

These standard error estimates may be used to construct 

confidence intervals around percentages in this report. The 

standard errors for the tables and figures are presented in 

appendix tables. For example, the 95%-confidence interval 

around the percentage of female sheriffs in sheriffs’ offices 

serving 500,000 or more residents is 6.6% ± 1.96 × 1.5% (or 

approximatelyto 9.5%) where “6.6%” is the point estimate in 

table 4 and “1.5%” is the standard error in table 15.

The standard errors may also be used to test the significance 

of the difference between two sample statistics by pooling 

the standard errors of the two sample estimates. For example, 

the standard error of the difference between sheriffs’ offices 

serving 1 million or more residents and those serving 

500,000 to 999,999 residents for the proportion of Hispanic 

officers would be 6.2% (or the square root of the sum of the 

squared standard errors for each group). The 95%-confidence 

interval around the difference would be 1.96 × 6.2% (or 

12.2%). Because the observed difference of 13.1% (24.9% 

minus 11.8%) is greater than 12.2%, the difference would be 

considered statistically significant.

Standard error estimates may also be used to construct 

confidence intervals around numeric variables such as 

personnel counts. For example, the 95%-confidence interval 

around the number of full-time sworn personnel in 2013 is 

approximately 188,952 ± (1.96 x 7,360), or 174,526 to 203,378, 

where “188,952” is the point estimate in table 1 and “7,360” is 

the standard error in table 10.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 9

Appendix Table 1

General purpose state and local law enforcement agencies, by type of employment, 2013

Full-time employees Part-time employees

Type of agency Number of agencies Total Sworn Civilian Total Sworn Civilian

Total 15,388 1,045,360 724,690 320,670 83,499 39,101 44,398

Local police 12,326 604,959 477,317 127,642 57,317 26,745 30,572

Sheriff’s office* 3,012 351,904 188,952 162,952 25,179 12,356 12,823

Primary state 50 88,497 58,421 30,076 1,003 0 1,003

Note: Figures are estimates as of January 1, 2013. See appendix table 2 for standard errors.

*Excludes agencies not performing law enforcement functions.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Appendix Table 2

Standard errors for appendix table 1: General purpose state and local law enforcement agencies, by type of employment, 2013

Full-time employees Part-time employees

Type of agency Total Sworn Civilian Total Sworn Civilian

Total 37,735 23,830 13,905 4,380 1,916 2,465

Local police 22,859 16,470 6,389 2,541 1,198 1,353

Sheriff’s office 14,877 7,360 7,516 1,839 727 1,112

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Appendix Table 3

Estimates and standard errors for figure 3: Percent change in 

the number of sheriffs' offices, by size of office, 2007 and 2013 

Estimates Standard errors Percent change

Size of office 2007 2013 2007 2013 2007–2013

500 or more 40 50 2.30 3.83 25.0%

100–499 312 321 14.29 8.93 2.9

25–99 952 1,099 47.96 33.42 15.4

24 or fewer 1,708 1,542 48.72 32.40 -9.7

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2007 and 2013.

Appendix Table 4

Number of full- and part-time sworn personnel in sheriffs’ 

offices, by size of office, 2007 and 2013

Full-time Part-time

Size of office* 2007 2013 2007 2013

All sizes 172,241 188,952 8,831 12,356

1,000 or more 35,501 37,482 194 444

500–999 14,370 21,785 667 706

250–499 28,979 29,599 805 1,177

100–249 32,947 34,790 1,654 1,480

50–99 23,641 26,194 1,856 2,467

25–49 18,941 22,786 1,593 2,776

10–24 13,797 12,940 1,640 2,680

5–9 3,372 2,854 373 553

2–4 670 516 48 75

1 24 6 0 0

25 or more 154,379 172,636 6,770 9,049

24 or fewer 17,863 16,316 2,061 3,307

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. Size of office is measured by 

the number of full-time equivalent sworn personnel and includes both full-time 

and part-time employees with part-time employees weighted by 0.5. See appendix 

table 5 for standard errors.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) Survey, 2007 and 2013.

Appendix Table 5

Standard errors for appendix table 4: Number of full- and 

part-time sworn personnel, by size of office, 2007 and 2013

Full-time Part-time

Size of office 2007 2013 2007 2013

All sizes 4,243 7,360 577 728

1,000 or more 3,650 7,495 33 171

500–999 1,052 2,172 153 189

250–499 990 1,715 69 202

100–249 1,638 1,240 277 130

50–99 2,248 1,146 382 411

25–49 1,413 1,174 277 445

10–24 760 659 199 321

5–9 265 253 57 113

2–4 88 76 15 27

1 10 5 ~ ~

25 or more 4,463 7,397 560 675

24 or fewer 701 587 203 332

~Not applicable because estimate was zero.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2007 and 2013.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 10

Appendix Table 6

Sex of full-time sworn personnel in sheriffs' offices, by size of 

population served, 2013

Population served Total Male Female

All sizes 100% 86.1% 13.9%

1,000,000 or more 100% 84.4 15.6

500,000–999,999 100% 85.7 14.3

250,000–499,999 100% 85.3 14.7

100,000–249,999 100% 86.4 13.6

50,000–99,999 100% 87.2 12.8

25,000–49,999 100% 88.2 11.8

10,000–24,999 100% 88.9 11.1

9,999 or fewer 100% 85.6 14.4

Note: See appendix table 7 for standard errors.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Appendix Table 7

Standard errors for appendix table 6: Sex of full-time sworn 

personnel in sheriffs’ offices, by size of population served, 2013

Population served Male Female

All sizes 0.70% 0.70%

1,000,000 or more 2.83 2.83

500,000–999,999 1.22 1.22

250,000–499,999 1.18 1.18

100,000–249,999 0.91 0.91

50,000–99,999 1.04 1.04

25,000–49,999 1.10 1.10

10,000–24,999 1.42 1.42

9,999 or fewer 2.85 2.85

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Appendix Table 8

Base weights, nonresponse adjustment factors, and final analytical weights for sheriffs' offices, 2013

Number of sheriffs' offices Base sample 

weight

Nonresponse 

adjustment factor

Final analytical 

Number of full-time officers In universe Sampled Responded weight

Total 3,012 895 717 ~ ~ ~

100 or more full-time officers 350 333 258 1.051 1.291 1.357

50–99 322 115 96 2.800 1.198 3.354

25–49 578 131 118 4.412 1.110 4.898

10–24 907 165 129 5.497 1.279 7.031

5–9 565 103 75 5.485 1.373 7.533

2–4 260 42 36 6.190 1.167 7.222

1 30 6 5 5.000 1.200 6.000

~Not applicable.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 11

Appendix Table 11

Standard errors for table 2: Number of sheriffs' offices and 

full-time personnel, by size of office, 2013

Full-time sworn personnel Full-time civilian personnel

Size of office Number Percent Number Percent

All sizes 7,360 ~ 7,516 ~

1,000 or more 7,495 3.97% 6,964 4.27%

500–999 2,172 1.15 2,026 1.24

250–499 1,715 0.91 2,197 1.35

100–249 1,240 0.66 1,422 0.87

50–99 1,146 0.61 1,634 1.00

25–49 1,174 0.62 1,833 1.13

10–24 659 0.35 995 0.61

5–9 253 0.13 522 0.32

2–4 76 0.04 56 0.03

1 5 0.00 ~ ~

~Not applicable because estimate was zero.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Appendix Table 10

Standard errors for table 1: Number of sheriffs' offices and employees, selected years 1993–2013

Full-time employees Part-time employees

Year Total Sworn Civilian Total Sworn Civilian

1993 5,356 3,672 2,233 851 736 300

1997 5,392 3,689 2,334 950 766 379

2000 3,138 2,012 1,719 639 530 320

2003 6,755 4,477 2,723 787 599 440

2007 9,281 4,243 5,561 904 577 578

2013 14,279 7,360 7,516 1,377 728 1,112

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and Adminstrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2013.

Appendix Table 12

Standard errors for table 3: Number of sheriffs' offices and fulltime personnel, by size of office, 2013

Full-time sworn personnel Full-time civilian personnel

Population served Number Percent Number Percent

All sizes 7,360 ~ 7,516 ~

1,000,000 or more 7,559 4.00% 7,211 4.43%

500,000–999,999 1,786 0.95 2,071 1.27

250,000–499,999 1,750 0.93 1,512 0.93

100,000–249,999 1,690 0.89 1,867 1.15

50,000–99,999 1,477 0.78 1,875 1.15

25,000–49,999 1,425 0.75 1,290 0.79

10,000–24,999 1,070 0.57 1,261 0.77

9,999 or fewer 558 0.30 450 0.28

~Not applicable.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Appendix Table 9

Estimates and standard errors for figure 1: Full-time sheriffs' 

office employees, selected years 1993–2013

Estimates Standard errors

Year Sworn officers Civilians Sworn officers Civilians

1993 155,815 68,421 3,672 2,233

1997 174,673 88,754 3,689 2,334

2000 164,711 129,112 2,012 1,719

2003 174,251 156,022 4,477 2,723

2007 172,241 174,096 4,243 5,561

2013 188,952 162,952 7,360 7,516

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Adminstrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2013.
SHERIFFS’ OFFICE PERSONNEL, 1993–2013 | JUNE 2016 12

Appendix Table 13

Estimates and standard errors for figure 4: Full-time sworn 

personnel in sheriffs' offices, by size of office, 1993, 2007, 

and 2013

Estimates Standard errors

Size of office 1993 2007 2013 1993 2007 2013

500 or more 47,055 49,871 59,267 3,313 3,745 7,695

100–499 55,797 61,926 64,389 1,871 1,741 1,589

25–99 35,331 42,582 48,980 1,413 2,416 1,180

24 or fewer 17,631 17,863 16,316 494 701 587

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 2007, and 2013.

Appendix Table 14

Estimates and standard errors for figure 5: Percent of full-time 

sworn female personnel in sheriffs' offices, selected years 

1993–2013

Year Estimates Standard errors

1993 14.5% 0.44%

1997 15.6 0.45

2000 12.5 0.23

2003 12.9 0.41

2007 12.1 0.39

2013 13.9 0.70

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2013.

Appendix Table 15

Standard errors for table 4: Percent of full-time sworn female 

personnel in sheriffs' offices, by size of population served, 2013

Population served Sheriff

First-line 

supervisor

All full-time 

sworn personnel

All sizes 0.42% 0.80% 0.70%

500,000 or more 1.50 2.17 1.91

100,000–499,999 ~ 0.74 0.67

25,000–99,999 0.39 1.04 0.68

24,999 or fewer 0.81 1.89 1.25

~Not applicable because estimate was zero.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.

Appendix Table 16

Standard errors for figure 6: Percent of minority full-time sworn 

personnel in sheriffs’ offices, selected years 1993–2013

Estimates Standard errors

Year

Total 

minority Black

Hispanic/

Latino Other

Total 

minority Black

Hispanic/

Latino Other

1993 16.9 10.0 5.8 1.1 0.68 0.31 0.45 0.07

1997 18.9 11.8 5.8 1.3 0.79 0.51 0.38 0.07

2000 17.1 9.4 6.1 1.6 0.45 0.24 0.26 0.10

2003 18.8 10.0 6.9 1.9 0.91 0.39 0.55 0.15

2007 18.8 9.0 8.0 1.8 0.93 0.38 0.59 0.17

2013 22.1 9.2 10.7 2.2 2.18 0.59 1.51 0.27

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Adminstrative Statistics (LEMAS) Survey, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2013.

Appendix Table 17

Standard errors for table 5: Percent of full-time sworn 

personnel in sheriffs' offices, by race or Hispanic origin and size 

of population served, 2013

Population served White

Black/African 

American

Hispanic/

Latino Othera

All sizes 2.10% 0.59% 1.51% 0.27%

1,000,000 or more 8.29 2.12 5.96 1.07

500,000–999,999 6.49 1.18 1.54 0.31

250,000–499,999 5.48 1.26 1.12 0.17

100,000–249,999 4.79 0.64 0.39 0.16

50,000–99,999 6.35 0.77 1.40 0.09

25,000–49,999 6.59 1.21 0.87 0.14

24,999 or fewer 5.06 1.64 0.82 0.30 aIncludes Asians, Native Hawaiians, or Other Pacific Islanders; American Indians or 

Alaska Natives; and persons of two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Law Enforcement Management and 

Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, 2013.
Office of Justice Programs

Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods

www.ojp.usdoj.gov

NCJ 249757

The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal 

federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, 

criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of 

criminal and civil justice systems at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. 

BJS collects, analyzes, and disseminates reliable and valid statistics on crime 

and justice systems in the United States, supports improvements to state and 

local criminal justice information systems, and participates with national and 

international organizations to develop and recommend national standards for 

justice statistics. Jeri M. Mulrow is acting director.

This report was written by Andrea M. Burch. Brian Reaves verified the report.

Lynne McConnell and Jill Thomas edited the report. Tina Dorsey produced 

the report.

June 2016, NCJ 249757