There were roughly 25 percent more law enforcement personnel in the United States in 2008 than in 1992, according to a new Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report.
BJS surveyed approximately 3,000 agencies across the country, including all agencies employing 100 or more full-time sworn officers. In 2008 there were about 705,000 full-time sworn officers employed in the United States, up from 564,000 in 1992.
The average annual growth rate for the number of officers was 1.6 percent, which exceeded the 1.2 percent average annual growth rate of the U.S. population. About one-third of all officers were employed by sheriffs' departments, which grew at an average annual rate of 2.1 percent.
The numbers represent a snapshot of American law enforcement taken before many agencies around the country faced recession-based cuts.
Read the report HERE.