Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), 2018 (ICPSR 38771)

Version Date: May 30, 2023

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Principal Investigator(s):
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38771.v1

Version V1

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Alternate Title

CSLLEA 2018

Summary

The BJS Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) is conducted every 4 years to provide a complete enumeration of agencies and their employees. Employment data are reported by agencies for sworn and nonsworn (civilian) personnel and, within these categories, by full-time or part-time status. The pay period that included June 30, 2018, was the reference date for personnel data. Agencies also complete a checklist of functions they regularly perform, or have primary responsibility for, within the following areas: patrol and response, criminal investigation, traffic and vehicle-related functions, detention-related functions, court-related functions, forensic services, special public safety functions (e.g., animal control), task force participation, and specialized functions (e.g., search and rescue). The CSLLEA provides national data on the number of state and local law enforcement agencies and employees for local police departments, sheriffs' offices, state law enforcement agencies, and special jurisdiction agencies. It also serves as the sampling frame for BJS surveys of law enforcement agencies.

Citation

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), 2018. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-05-30. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38771.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

City

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2018

Date of Collection

2018-09 -- 2019-06

Data Collection Notes

  1. For more information on the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), please visit the study website.

  2. Data collection for this series significantly changed between the 2008 census and the 2018 census. Please refer to the study documentation for a crosswalk of common variables between the two years.

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Sample

The 2018 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) data collection form was mailed to nearly 20,000 agencies potentially operating nationwide. This master list was created by compiling information from:

  • BJS's Law Enforcement Agency Roster (LEAR). The LEAR originated from a variety of sources, including the 2008 and 2014 CSLLEA, the 2013 and 2016 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) surveys, and the 2016 Body Worn Camera LEMAS Supplement.
  • Lists provided by Peace Officer Standards and Training offices and other state agencies.

Responses were received through website, mail, and phone options. Responding agencies were screened for eligibility to be included in the final CSLLEA database. Agencies were excluded if any of the following conditions existed on the CSLLEA reference date of June 30, 2018.

  • The agency employed only part-time officers and their total combined hours averaged less than 35 hours per week.
  • The agency was closed, represented a duplicate listing, or was otherwise an invalid entry.
  • The agency contracted or outsourced to another agency for performance of all services.
  • The agency did not employ personnel with general arrest powers.
  • The agency was private (i.e., did not operate with funds from a state, local, special district, or tribal government).
  • All sworn officers volunteered their time on an unpaid basis.
  • Agency was operated by the federal government.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

All state and local law enforcement agencies that were publicly funded and employed the equivalent of one full-time sworn officer (at least two part-time officers) with general arrest powers.

Unit(s) of Observation

State or local law enforcement agency

Data Source

Self-enumerated forms

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

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Original Release Date

2023-05-30

Version History

2023-05-30 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Created online analysis version with question text.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

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Weight

The data include the weight variables NRWT, the final non-response adjusted weight, and ELIGWT, the eligibility adjusted weight.

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.