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Home Crime in the U.S. 2012 Crime in the U.S. 2012 Tables 74TableDataDecOverviewPDFs

Table 74

Full-time Law Enforcement Employees

by Population Group

Percent Male and Female, 2012

Population group Total law
enforcement
employees
Percent law
enforcement employees
Total
officers
Percent officers Total
civilians
Percent civilians Number
of
agencies
2012
estimated
population
Male Female Male Female Male Female
TOTAL AGENCIES: 956,322 73.6 26.4 670,439 88.1 11.9 285,883 39.7 60.3 14,006 285,020,066
TOTAL CITIES 552,162 75.7 24.3 429,925 88.1 11.9 122,237 32.1 67.9 10,826 193,021,745
GROUP I (250,000 and over) 194,995 72.3 27.7 150,037 83.5 16.5 44,958 34.8 65.2 75 56,040,960
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset) 103,192 70.6 29.4 78,019 82.1 17.9 25,173 35.0 65.0 9 24,252,651
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset) 53,626 75.2 24.8 42,260 85.0 15.0 11,366 39.0 61.0 25 17,516,175
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset) 38,177 72.5 27.5 29,758 85.0 15.0 8,419 28.3 71.7 41 14,272,134
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999) 66,376 73.4 26.6 50,669 88.1 11.9 15,707 26.0 74.0 196 29,282,253
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999) 62,109 76.7 23.3 48,218 90.5 9.5 13,891 28.8 71.2 426 29,406,808
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999) 59,853 78.0 22.0 47,809 90.9 9.1 12,044 26.8 73.2 798 27,574,550
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999) 63,249 79.8 20.2 51,253 92.2 7.8 11,996 26.9 73.1 1,743 27,664,124
GROUP VI (under 10,000) 105,580 79.3 20.7 81,939 91.0 9.0 23,641 38.6 61.4 7,588 23,053,050
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES 299,358 70.0 30.0 177,730 86.5 13.5 121,628 46.0 54.0 1,268 68,230,997
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES 104,802 72.9 27.1 62,784 92.5 7.5 42,018 43.5 56.5 1,912 23,767,324
SUBURBAN AREAS1 459,397 73.2 26.8 303,642 88.4 11.6 155,755 43.6 56.4 7,503 124,099,819
  • 1 Suburban areas include law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (see Data Declaration). Suburban areas exclude all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.

Data Declaration

Provides the methodology used in constructing this table and other pertinent information about this table.

Overview

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Full-time Law Enforcement Employees, by Population Group, Percent Male and Female, 2012

  • Nationwide in 2012, 88.1 percent of full-time law enforcement officers were males.
  • More than 60 percent (60.3) of full-time civilian law enforcement employees were females. 
  • Of the city population groups, cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants employed the highest percentage (92.2) of male officers.
  • Cities with populations of 1 million and over (a subset of the total Group I cities) employed the highest percentage (17.9) of female officers.
  • Regarding the nation’s full-time civilian law enforcement employees, cities with populations of 100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants had the highest percentage (74.0) of females.
  • Metropolitan county agencies had the highest percentage (46.0) of male full-time civilian law enforcement employees.