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Drug Enforcement by Police and Sheriffs' Departments, 1990

NCJ Number
134505
Author(s)
B A Reaves
Date Published
1992
Length
10 pages
Annotation
In 1990, about 9,300 local police agencies and 2,500 sheriffs' departments had primary responsibility for drug law enforcement.
Abstract

Among State and local law enforcement agencies with primary drug law enforcement responsibilities, more than 90 percent of the police departments and more than 80 percent of the sheriffs' departments operated special drug law enforcement units. Nationwide, more than 16,000 local police and sheriffs' officers and more than 2,000 State police officers were assigned full-time to special drug units. Half of these law enforcement agencies were taking part in a multi-agency drug enforcement task force. About two-thirds of State police departments and two-fifths of local police and sheriffs' departments reported that at least some of the persons they arrested were required to take a test for illegal drugs. A majority of agencies serving populations of 25,000 or more required that all applicants for sworn positions take a test for illegal drugs. The survey that revealed these and other results was conducted by the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Program. Tables