46

Crime Fighters

Lock your doors. Be aware of your surroundings. Shoplifters will be prosecuted. Reminders of crime seem to surround Americans as they go about their everyday lives. Most of the crimes people hear about in the news 

tend to be the more serious violent crimes, such as assault, 

rape, and murder, because those crimes tend to be thought 

of as the most newsworthy. However, according to statistics 

from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, most crimes committed 

are actually property crimes. In 2005, U.S. residents 12 and 

older experienced 23 million crimes, according to findings 

from the National Crime Victimization Survey. Of these 

23 million crimes, approximately 77 percent were property 

crimes, while 22 percent were violent crimes. The remaining 

one percent were personal thefts. With the U.S. population 

aged 12 and older in 2005 at about 240 million, this amounts 

to almost one crime per every ten people on average. 

It is no surprise that many workers are employed in occupations directly related to fighting crime. These occupations 

range from those associated with crime prevention, such as 

security and fire alarm systems installers, to those related to 

punishing the offender, such as judges and correctional officers and jailers. This article uses May 2005 Occupational 

Employment Statistics (OES) estimates to examine the occupations directly related to fighting crime.

Overview of the crime-related occupations

Almost any occupation can be involved with crime prevention and enforcement if the profession is in a crime-related 

industry. For example, an accountant working in the security 

systems monitoring services industry would be involved in 

the crime prevention process. However, this article focuses on those occupations that are directly related to fighting 

crime, such that most workers in the given occupation would 

be forced to work in a different occupation if crime were to 

disappear completely. The 27 occupations selected as being 

directly related to crime are shown in table 1 and will be referred as crime-related occupations for this article. This table 

By Michael Soloy

Michael Soloy is an economist in the Division of Occupation Employment 

Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

also shows the national employment and annual mean wage 

for these occupations, along with their corresponding relative standard error. In addition, table 1 has a column called 

Group which contains M&C if the given occupation is mostly 

related to monitoring for crime or catching the criminal and 

T&P if the occupation is mostly related to trying the criminals or enforcing the punishment. These two group breakdowns will be used in analysis presented later in this article. 

It should be noted that not all workers in the 27 selected occupations are directly related to fighting crime. Many lawyers 

and other legal workers are involved in activities, such as tax 

or contract law, that are not directly related to crime. However, because the OES program does not classify each type 

of lawyer separately, all lawyers are included together as a 

crime-related occupation.

The 27 crime-related occupations collectively employ 

about 3.9 million workers nationally, with an average wage 

of $22.94 per hour. The national average wage for all other 

occupations—other than these crime-related occupations—is 

$18.11 per hour. The smallest of the 27 occupations, in terms 

of employment, is transit and railroad police with a little over 

5,000 workers. The largest occupation, in terms of employment, is security guards with close to 1 million workers. The 

range of wages is also quite large, with lawyers earning the 

most—on average at slightly over $53 per hour—and security guards earning the least—on average at slightly under 

$11 per hour. These 3.9 million workers account for approximately 3 percent of the total U.S. employment. 

Private versus public industry

Fighting crime is generally considered the job of the federal, 

State, and local government.1 Ultimately, only the government can arrest people, convict them of a crime, and jail or 

fine them. However, private industry still employs many 

workers in crime-related occupations. Approximately 51 

percent of the employment in crime-related occupations is 

in private industry. Table 2 shows the private industry versus public industry percentage break-down for each of the 27 

1

 The OES estimates do not include data from the Federal Judicial 

Branch.
47

occupations, along with the respective annual mean wages. 

The public industry estimates presented in this article include 

government-owned schools and hospitals unless otherwise 

noted. 

Some occupations, such as police and sheriff’s officers, 

bailiffs, and judges, are almost exclusively found in the public sector. Only nine of the 27 crime-related occupations 

have a higher percentage of workers in private industry than 

in the public sector. One of the occupations with a higher 

percentage of workers in private industry is lawyers, with 80 

percent of lawyers employed in private industry. Perhaps it 

is the approximately $30,000 extra that the average lawyer 

in private industry earns per year, compared to their public 

sector counterpart, that encourages more lawyers to choose a 

career in private industry.

The crime-related occupation with the highest employment in private industry is security guards, with almost 

900,000 employed by private industry to go along with the 

nearly 100,000 security guards found in the public sector. 

The main role of security guards is to prevent crime through 

patrol and monitoring. Security guards are employed in a 

variety of industries and are found in more than three quarters 

of the industries identified by the North American Industrial 

Classification System (NAICS). The investigation and security services industry, which contracts out security services, 

employs over half of all security guards. Security guards 

themselves cannot make official arrests, but must turn suspected criminals over to the police and other workers in the 

public sector for official arrests and possible punishment.

The two largest crime-related occupations in the public 

sector are police and sheriff’s patrol officers, with employment of about 620,000, and correctional officers and jailers, 

with an employment of about 395,000. These two occupations are almost entirely confined to the public sector. The 

small percentage of police and sheriff’s patrol officers in 

private industry work for private colleges and universities, 

and the small percentage of correctional officers and jailers in private industry work for private prisons that contract 

out their services to the government. Police and sheriff’s 

patrol officers is the largest occupation in local government 

(not including schools or hospitals) with an employment of 

532,370—about twice as high as the next largest occupation 

in local government—firefighters. Police and sheriff’s patrol 

officers make up almost 10 percent of the total local governTable 1. Employment and wage estimates for the 27 crime-related occupations

Mean wage Employment

Total Hourly Annual percent percent

Occupation Group1 occupational mean mean relative relative

employment wage wage standard standard

error error

Security guards.................................................................... M&C 994,220 $10.91 $22,690 0.3 0.6

Gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators ...... M&C 8,730 13.82 28,740 3.2 4.5

Parking enforcement workers.............................................. M&C 10,140 14.72 30,620 1.5 4.6

Locksmiths and safe repairers............................................. M&C 16,080 15.67 32,600 .8 2.7

Protective service workers, all other.................................... M&C 141,480 15.90 33,070 .6 1.3

Security and fire alarm systems installers ........................... M&C 49,470 17.06 35,480 1.1 3.7

Private detectives and investigators.................................... M&C 33,720 17.78 36,980 1.9 3.9

First-line supervisors/managers, protective 

 service workers, all other................................................... M&C 49,330 21.95 45,650 .7 1.1

Police and sheriff’s patrol officers........................................ M&C 624,130 22.73 47,270 .9 1.0

Forensic science technicians............................................... M&C 11,030 22.79 47,390 1.5 4.7

Transit and railroad police ................................................... M&C 5,090 24.20 50,330 3.1 11.0

Criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, 

 postsecondary ................................................................... M&C 9,880 n/a 52,930 1.1 3.2

Detectives and criminal investigators .................................. M&C 85,270 28.24 58,750 1.0 1.2

First-line supervisors/managers of police and detectives.... M&C 91,320 32.33 67,240 .8 .9

Bailiffs .................................................................................. T&P 17,160 16.90 35,160 1.3 1.9

Correctional officers and jailers ........................................... T&P 411,080 17.60 36,600 .5 .7

Law clerks............................................................................ T&P 40,620 17.78 36,980 1.1 4.0

Legal secretaries ................................................................. T&P 265,000 18.78 39,070 .6 1.6

Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists .... T&P 90,600 20.92 43,510 .7 1.1

Paralegals and legal assistants........................................... T&P 217,700 20.92 43,510 .5 1.7

Court reporters .................................................................... T&P 17,130 21.84 45,420 2.8 7.2

Legal support workers, all other .......................................... T&P 71,060 22.54 46,890 .6 1.0

First-line supervisors/managers of correctional officers ...... T&P 37,530 24.37 50,700 1.0 .7

Administrative law judges, adjudicators, and 

 hearing officers.................................................................. T&P 15,350 36.89 76,730 1.5 .7

Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates....................... T&P 25,330 43.99 91,500 1.3 1.6

Law teachers, postsecondary.............................................. T&P 13,560 n/a 95,570 1.9 6.7

Lawyers ............................................................................... T&P 529,190 53.13 110,520 .9 .9

 1 M&C stands for monitoring for crime and catching the criminal. T&P stands for trying the criminals or enforcing the punishment. 

 
48

ment employment (not including schools or hospitals). Similarly, correctional officer and jailer is the largest occupation 

in state government (not including schools or hospitals), with 

an employment of 240,760. This is more than twice as high as 

the next largest employing occupation in State government: 

general office clerks. Correctional officers and jailers make 

up more than 10 percent of the total State government employment (not including schools or hospitals). 

Two occupation groups

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the 27 crimerelated occupations can be broken down into two groups: the 

M&C group of occupations involved in monitoring for crime 

and catching the criminals and the T&P group of occupations 

involved in trying the criminals and enforcing the punishment. It is likely that some of the duties of occupations in 

one group cross over to the other group. For example, police officers often also testify at trial or help in trial security. 

However, occupations are assigned to each group based on 

where a majority of work for the given occupation is normally done. 

The groups where each of the 27 crime-related occupations 

are assigned are shown in table 1. The M&C group contains 

14 occupations, with the T&P group containing the other 13 

occupations. The M&C group contains approximately 55 

percent of the total crime-related occupational employment, 

and as a group has an average wage of slightly more than $17 

per hour. The T&P group has a mean wage of slightly more 

than $30 per hour—about 75 percent higher than the M&C 

group. However, as with the full crime-related occupational 

group as a whole, each of the two subgroups have a wide 

range of mean wages, when looking at the detail occupations 

making up each of the two groups. Detail occupations in the 

M&C group have mean hourly wages that range from a low 

of $10.91 per hour for security guards to a high of $32.33 per 

hour for first-line supervisors/managers of police and detectives—a difference of a little more than $21 per hour. The 

P&E group has mean hourly wages that range from a low of 

$16.90 per hour for bailiffs to a high of $53.13 per hour for 

lawyers—a difference of a little more than $36 per hour. 

MSA employment size

Crime is usually thought to be a larger problem in the big 

cities than in the suburbs or rural areas. The most detailed 

estimates that the OES program produces are at the metropolitan statistical (MSA) level, which often includes larger 

cities, plus their surrounding suburbs. For this examination, 

MSAs were grouped into six size classes based on their total 

Table 2. Private industry and public industry employment and wages for the 27 crime related occupations

 Percent of Percent of Private Public

Private Public occupational occupational industry industry

Occupation industry industry employment employment mean mean

employment employment in private in public annual annual

 industry industry wage wage

Forensic science technicians............................................... 1,720 9,310 16 84 49,520 47,000

Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists .... 2,660 87,940 3 97 30,410 43,910

Lawyers ............................................................................... 422,340 106,850 80 20 116,710 86,040

Administrative law judges, adjudicators, and 

 hearing officers.................................................................. 0 15,350 0 100 n/a 76,730

Judges, magistrate judges, and magistrates....................... 0 25,330 0 100 n/a 91,500

Paralegals and legal assistants........................................... 191,760 25,940 88 12 43,240 45,550

Court reporters .................................................................... 7,050 10,080 41 59 39,440 49,600

Law clerks............................................................................ 20,430 20,190 50 50 34,970 39,020

Legal support workers, all other .......................................... 12,320 58,740 17 83 44,070 47,480

Criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, 

 postsecondary ................................................................... 2,140 7,740 22 78 51,460 53,330

Law teachers, postsecondary.............................................. 8,130 5,430 60 40 97,830 92,200

First-line supervisors/managers of correctional officers ...... 1,220 36,310 3 97 42,260 50,980

First-line supervisors/managers of police and detectives.... 620 90,690 1 99 61,290 67,280

First-line supervisors/managers, protective service 

 workers, all other............................................................... 35,560 13,780 72 28 41,050 57,530

Bailiffs .................................................................................. 0 17,160 0 100 n/a 35,160

Correctional officers and jailers ........................................... 16,290 394,780 4 96 27,510 36,980

Detectives and criminal investigators .................................. 70 85,200 0 100 55,960 58,750

Parking enforcement workers.............................................. 430 9,700 4 96 29,790 30,650

Police and sheriff’s patrol officers........................................ 3,790 620,340 1 99 42,730 47,300

Transit and railroad police ................................................... 1,350 3,740 27 74 50,270 50,350

Private detectives and investigators.................................... 29,690 4,030 88 12 35,890 45,040

Gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators ...... 4,140 4,590 47 53 27,900 29,510

Security guards.................................................................... 894,430 99,790 90 10 22,200 27,110

Protective service workers, all other.................................... 27,340 114,140 19 81 25,660 34,840

Legal secretaries ................................................................. 243,540 21,450 92 8 39,360 35,770

Security and fire alarm systems installers ........................... 49,030 440 99 1 35,440 40,100

Locksmiths and safe repairers............................................. 13,920 2,170 87 14 31,300 40,980
49

Chart 1. Percent of employment in each crime-related occupation group by MSA size

1,000,000

and greater

500,000-

999,999

250,000-

499,999

100,000-

249,999

50,000-

99,999

Less than

50,000

All BOS

areas

Percent

MSA employment size group

2

1.8 Monitoring for crime and catching the criminals (M&C) group

Trying the criminals or enforcing the punishment (T&P) group

1.6

1.4

1.2

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

employment: MSA size group 1: 1,000,000 and greater; MSA 

size group 2: 500,000 – 999,999; MSA size group 3: 250,000 

– 499,999; MSA size group 4: 100,000 – 249,999; MSA size 

group 5: 50,000 – 99,999; MSA size group 6: Less than 50,000 

workers. In addition, data for all counties that are not part of 

a MSA, regardless of employment size, were put in their own 

group called the balance of state (BOS), or non-metropolitan 

areas. Chart 1 shows the percent of employment in each of 

the two crime-related occupation groups for each of the MSA 

size groups and the BOS. Generally, the percent of workers 

in each of the two occupation groups tends to increase as the 

size of the MSA increases. It is interesting to note, however, 

that the percent of workers in both groups is slightly higher in 

the smallest metropolitan areas and in non-metropolitan areas 

than in the second smallest areas. This increase might be due 

to the idea that a minimum number of crime-related workers 

might be needed, regardless of the area size. 

Wages for the two crime-related occupation groups also 

vary for the different MSA size groups. For most occupations overall--not just the crime-related occupations—wages 

tend to be higher in MSAs with larger total employment than 

in MSAs with smaller employment, as shown in a previous 

published in the 1999 OES bulletin entitled An analysis of the 

correlation between occupational mean wage levels and the 

employment of a MSA. Chart 2 shows the mean hourly wages 

for the two crime-related occupation groups for each of the 

six MSA size groups and the BOS. The T&P group average 

wages generally tend to decrease as the employment size of 

the MSA decrease, as would be expected. Average wages 

for the M&C group did not show this same type of relation, 

however. Although the largest MSA group—those with more 

than 1,000,000 workers—has the highest mean hourly wage 

for the M&C group; and the BOS group has the lowest mean 

hourly wage, there is no statistically significant wage difference between the other five MSA size groups. 

One problem with looking at wages by occupational group 

is that the average wage can be influenced more by the share 

of each detailed occupation in the group than by the mean 

wages of individual detailed occupations. For example, if 

one MSA group has many more bailiffs relative to lawyers, 

this MSA group might have a lower average wage for this occupational group than another MSA group with a relatively 

high proportion of lawyers, even if the occupational wages for 

both bailiffs and lawyers are higher in the first set of MSAs. 
50

Chart 2. Hourly mean wages for each crime-related occupation group by MSA size

1,000,000

and greater

500,000-

999,999

250,000-

499,999

100,000-

249,999

50,000-

99,999

Less than

50,000

All BOS

areas

Dollars

MSA employment size group

40

35

Monitoring for crime and catching the criminals (M&C) group

Trying the criminals or enforcing the punishment (T&P) group

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Therefore, it might be more interesting to examine some 

of the larger occupations at the detailed occupational level 

to see how they vary by MSA size group. Hence, the two 

occupations with the largest employment from each of the 

two crime-related occupation groups were selected for further examination. The occupations are police and sheriff’s 

patrol officers and security guards from the M&C group, 

and lawyers and correctional officers and jailers from the 

T&P group. 

Chart 3 shows the percent of MSA size group employment 

for each of the four detailed occupations. Lawyers and security guards generally increase as a percentage of the total area 

employment as the employment size of the MSA increases. 

Conversely, the percentage of correctional officers and jailers tend to decrease as the size of the MSA increases. The 

percent of employment of police and sheriff’s patrol officers 

does not seem to correspond to MSA size as do the other 

three occupations. The differences in the employment percentage among the different MSA sizes for this occupation 

are not statistically significant. 

The mean hourly wages for each of the four detailed occupations are shown in chart 4. Wages for lawyers tend to 

increase as the size of the MSA increases, although the wage 

difference between the smallest MSA size group and the BOS 

group is not statistically significant. Mean wages for police 

and sheriff’s patrol officers also generally tend to increase as 

the size of the MSA increases, although the relationship is 

not as strong as seen with lawyers. Other than the two largest 

MSA size groups, the wages are fairly similar for police and 

sheriff’s patrol officers across the other MSA size groups. 

The wages for correctional officers and jailers and security 

guards do not vary in a consistent manner according to the 

MSA size. This examination of the four detailed occupations 

shows that the characteristics seen in the two crime-related 

occupation groups as a whole do not always carry over to 

every detailed occupation in the group.

Conclusion

Crime prevention, prosecution, and punishment provides 

millions of jobs for Americans. The 27 crime-related occupations examined in this article together employ about 3 percent of U.S. workers. With a mean hourly wage of more than 

$23 per hour, these crime-related jobs are also higher paying, 

on average, than other occupations. 
51

1,000,000 and greater

500,000 - 999,999

250,000 - 499,999

100,000 - 249,999

50,000 - 99,999

Less than 50,000

BOS area

Lawyers Correctional officers and

jailers

Police and sheriff’s patrol

officers

Security guards

Chart 3. Percent of MSA employment-size group for four detailed SOC occupations

1.2

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

Occupation

Percent

The Occupation Outlook Handbook 2006-07 Edition estimates that most of the 27 crime-related occupations examined in this article will grow about as fast as average. The 

reason that most of these occupations will not grow faster 

than average is not because crime is expected to decrease dramatically, but instead, is because of taxes. Although the total 

employment for these 27 occupations as a group is similar 

between private industry and the public sector, a strong majority of individual crime-related occupations are primarily 

employed in the public sector, and public sector wages must 

be paid by taxes. One thing that people perhaps hate more 

than crime is higher taxes. 

Most of this article centered on summary examination of 

the 27 crime-related occupations at aggregate group levels. 

For more detailed information about these occupations, the 

OES program offers detailed wage and employment statistics at the national, 3-, 4-, and select 5-digit NAICS industry 

level, as well as at the State and MSA cross-industry. This 

detailed data can be found on the OES Web site at http://

www.bls.gov/oes/. 
52

1,000,000 and greater

500,000 - 999,999

250,000 - 499,999

100,000 - 249,999

50,000 - 99,999

Less than 50,000

BOS area

Chart 4. Hourly mean wages for each crime-related occupation group by MSA size

Lawyers Correctional officers and

jailers

Police and sheriff’s patrol

officers

Security guards

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

Occupation

Dollars

0