-Caveat Lector- Police Depts. Grew in Mid-1990s By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The growth of police and sheriffs' departments accelerated during the mid-1990s to a total of 595,000 officers with arrest power by June 1997, the Justice Department reported Friday. In its most recent census, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that local police departments grew an average of 3 percent a year between 1993 and June 1997, compared with 1 percent a year from 1987 through 1993. Sheriffs' departments grew an average of 4.4 percent annually between 1993 and June 1997, compared with 3.1 percent a year from 1987 through 1993. Total police department employment reached an estimated 531,496 by June 1997, of whom 420,000 were sworn officers with arrest authority. Sheriffs' departments employed 263,427 by June 1997, of whom 175,000 had arrest authority. The period of increased growth includes the beginnings of the Clinton administration's eight-year Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, program enacted in 1994 to put an additional 100,000 local police officers on the street. But there is a lag between the award of grants and the arrival of new officers on patrol, so as of this year, about 55,000 of the new officers have reached street work, the administration has said. The COPS program encourages local departments to use the new officers in community policing programs that involve citizens and other public agencies in police work. The survey found that by June 1997, 56 percent of local police officers worked for a department with a formal, written community policing policy, as did 33 percent of sheriffs' officers. The survey also found increasing numbers of minority officers and more departments requiring college training. Racial and ethnic minorities comprised 21.5 percent of sworn police officers in June 1997, compared with 19.1 percent in 1993 and 14.6 percent in 1987. Sworn officers from minority groups in sheriffs' departments rose from 13.4 in 1987 to 19 percent in June 1997. Overall in 1997, 14 percent of all police departments, employing 31 percent of all officers, required new recruits to have at least some college courses, compared with 12 percent of the departments, with 15 percent of all officers, in 1993. Among sheriffs' departments, 11 percent required some college work of new deputies, up from 7 percent in 1993. A four-year college degree was required by 1 percent of both police and sheriffs' departments in 1997. Starting salaries for local police officers averaged $28,400, ranging from $18,800 in the smallest jurisdictions to $30,600 in the largest cities. Sheriffs' deputies started at an average of $26,000, with a low of $19,400 and high of $30,200. Two-thirds of all local police officers and half of all sheriffs' deputies worked for departments with collective bargaining. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
