This paper provides a structured overview of U.S. law enforcement agencies, organized by jurisdiction and authority. It covers federal agencies — including the FBI, Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — before examining the more than 17,000 state and local agencies that include municipal police, state highway patrol, special jurisdiction police, and deputy sheriffs. The paper then shifts to a constitutional and legal discussion of racial profiling, addressing Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment considerations, the proposed End Racial Profiling Act of 2011, and the evidentiary standards required to bring a federal civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.
As with many governmental agencies, law enforcement in the United States is partitioned by agency type, organizational mission, overall size, and jurisdiction. The law enforcement agency spectrum is broad, spanning a range from small-town police departments to extensive federal agencies. The descriptions below correspond to the categorical jurisdictions and authority of U.S. law enforcement agencies.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the largest employers of federal officers are the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Each of these agencies has over 10,000 officers authorized to carry firearms and make arrests (Discover Policing, 2015). The duties and responsibilities of federal officers include corrections, court operations, criminal investigation and enforcement, inspections, police response and patrol, and security and protection (Discover Policing, 2015).
Several types of law enforcement agencies make up the more than 17,000 U.S. state and local law enforcement agencies, including municipal police departments, state police and highway patrol, special jurisdiction police, and deputy sheriffs (Discover Policing, 2015). Agencies at the state and local level range in size from more than 30,000 officers to just one law enforcement official (Discover Policing, 2015).
A large proportion of agencies at this level are local police departments, with divisions that include municipal, county, tribal, and regional police — each of which derives authority from the local governing entity through which it was established. Local police are dedicated to upholding jurisdictional laws, providing patrol, and investigating local crimes. State police and highway patrol extend police duties to wide-scale emergencies, highways, and statewide investigations, all beyond the resources and jurisdictional boundaries of local agencies.
Special jurisdiction police exhibits considerable variety, as police services are provided for discrete entities or jurisdictions such as airports, hospitals, government buildings, housing authorities, parks, schools, and subways. Special jurisdiction police are fundamentally indistinguishable from local police and are staffed as full-service departments. Deputy sheriffs enforce state law at the county level. Their duties generally include providing service in areas outside local police jurisdictions, operating the local county jail, and serving warrants and court summons.
"Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment challenges to profiling"
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