Federal law enforcement in the United States

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U.S. Park Police officers awaiting deployment during the 2005 Inauguration Day
US Customs and Border Protection officers board a ship.

The federal government of the United States empowers a wide range of law enforcement agencies to maintain law and public order related to matters affecting the country as a whole.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Federal police possess enforcement authority as given to them under various parts of the United States Code (U.S.C.). Federal law enforcement officers are authorized to enforce various laws generally only at the federal level. A few agencies have broad federal enforcement powers, but most enforce only narrow portions of federal law. In some cases, they may be empowered to enforce state and local law as well. These agencies have nationwide jurisdiction for enforcement of designated federal law. Federal agencies are limited by the U.S. Code to investigating matters that are explicitly within the power of the federal government. Some federal investigative powers have become broader in practice, since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001.

The Department of Justice was formerly the largest but remains the most prominent collection of law enforcement agencies, and handled most law enforcement duties at the federal level.[1] It includes the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and others. In 2002, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created by an act of Congress.

DHS now includes the United States Secret Service (USSS), which protects the president and vice president of the United States, their families and other dignitaries as well as investigating counterfeiting crimes involving U.S. currency and monetary instruments; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which includes Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) that handles interior immigration enforcement in the United States, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) which was created by the merger of the special agents of the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Customs Service.

There is also U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which includes United States Border Patrol (USBP), the CBP Office of Air and Marine (whose assets encompass the aviation and marine units of the old INS/Border Patrol and Customs Service), and which is the largest aviation/marine force in federal law enforcement; CBP officers are responsible for federal law enforcement at all U.S. Ports of Entry, including airports, sea ports, and the land border ports; USBP Agents are the primary enforcement unit along the U.S. international border between U.S. Ports of Entry; the Federal Protective Service (FPS) is responsible for federal law enforcement in federal buildings and properties. Including elements of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, DHS now has more sworn armed federal law enforcement agents and officers than any other department of the United States government.

[edit] History

Federal law enforcement in the United States is well over two hundred years old. For example, the Postal Inspection Service can trace its origins back to 1772.[2]

[edit] List of agencies and units of agencies

Agencies in bold text are LEAs (Law Enforcement Agencies)

[edit] Executive Branch

[edit] Department of Agriculture (USDA)

[edit] Department of Commerce (DOC)

[edit] Department of Defense

[edit] Department of the Army

[edit] Department of the Navy

[edit] Department of the Air Force

[edit] Department of Education

[edit] Department of Energy (DOE)

[edit] Department of Health and Human Services

[edit] Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

CBP Officers and Border Patrol Agents at a ceremony in 2007

[edit] Department of Housing and Urban Development

[edit] Department of the Interior (USDI)

[edit] Department of Justice (USDOJ)

[edit] Department of Labor

[edit] Department of State (DOS)

[edit] Department of Transportation

[edit] Department of the Treasury

A Bureau of Engraving and Printing Police (BEP) patrol car.

[edit] Department of Veterans Affairs

[edit] Legislative Branch

[edit] Judicial Branch

[edit] Other federal law enforcement agencies

Independent Agencies and Quasi-official Corporations

[edit] Statistics

  • In 2004, federal agencies employed approximately 105,000 full-time personnel authorized to make arrests and carry firearms in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Compared with 2002, employment of such personnel increased by 13%.
  • Nationwide, there were 36 federal officers per 100,000 residents. Outside the District of Columbia, which had 1,662 per 100,000, State ratios ranged from 90 per 100,000 in Arizona to 7 per 100,000 in Iowa.
  • As of 2004, about 3 in 4 federal law enforcement officers working outside the Armed Forces were employed within the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice.
  • Federal officers’ duties included criminal investigation (38%), police response and patrol (21%), corrections and detention (16%), inspections (16%), court operations (5%), and security and protection (4%).
  • Women accounted for 16% of federal officers in 2004, an increase from 14.8% in 2002.
  • A third (33.2%) of federal officers were members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2004. This included 17.7% who were Hispanic or Latino, and 11.4% who were black or African American. In 2002, racial or ethnic minorities officers comprised 32.4% of federal officers.
  • Twenty-seven federal offices of inspector general (IG) employed criminal investigators with arrest and firearm authority in 2004. Overall, these agencies employed 2,867 such officers in the 50 states and District of Columbia.[3]

[edit] See also

Lists of law enforcement agencies by country
Australia · Argentina · Brazil · Canada · Germany · Italy · India · Japan · Pakistan · South Korea · United Kingdom · United States of America: federal · state & local

[edit] References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government.

  1. ^ Langeluttig, Albert (1927). The Department of Justice of the United States. Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 9–14. 
  2. ^ "Chronology of U.S. Postal Inspection Service". accessed 2007-01-08. http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/ischrono.htm. 
  3. ^ bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov Federal Law Enforcement United States Bureau of Justice Statistics Publications & Products. Page last revised on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
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