Emily D. Buehler, PhD, BJS Statistician
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MAY 2023, NCJ 306490
The composition of law enforcement officers in the United States depends, in part, on who starts and completes basic academy training. In 2018, 19% of recruits who started and 18% of recruits who completed basic training were female.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics periodically collects such data through the Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies (CLETA). Last administered in 2018, the CLETA gathers information on recruits, staff, training curricula, equipment, and facilities from training academies that are responsible for administering mandatory basic training to newly appointed or elected law enforcement officers. These academies are operated by state, county, and municipal agencies and by universities, colleges, and technical schools.
In 2018:
- Females accounted for the highest percentage of recruits who completed basic training in Montana (34.3%), Idaho (28.3%), California (23.3%), and Oklahoma (23.2%) (map 1).
- Less than 10% of recruits who completed basic training were female in five states: Utah (9.6%), Wyoming (9.0%), Kentucky (9%), Delaware (8.3%), and West Virginia (6.3%).
Map 1: Percent of recruits who completed basic training who were female, by state, 2018
Note: See appendix table 1 for estimates.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2018.
- Academies operated by state police or highway patrols had the lowest percentage of starting recruits who were female (11%) (table 1).
- One in 5 recruits who completed basic training at academies operated by county police (21%), by 2-year colleges (21%), and by technical schools (20%) were female.
- The completion ratio of female recruits (the number who completed basic training divided by the number who started) was highest at academies operated by other state agencies (94%) and lowest at academies operated by state police or highway patrols (70%).
- The completion ratio was highest (86%) for female recruits at academies that operated under a more nonstress than stress model and was lowest for female recruits at academies using a more stress than nonstress training model (78%).
Percent of recruits | ||||||
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Academy characteristic | Started basic training who were female | Completed basic training who were female | Completion ratio of female recruitsa | |||
Total | 19.0% | 18.1% | 81.5% | |||
Academy type |
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State POST/equivalent | 18.7%† | 17.3%† | 80.3% | |||
State police/highway patrol | 10.8† | 9.9† | 70.3† | |||
Sheriff's office | 19.6† | 18.6† | 81.4 | |||
County police | 22.5 | 21.2 | 82.9 | |||
Municipal police | 20.1† | 18.9† | 80.1 | |||
4-year college/university | 16.8† | 16.2† | 86.2† | |||
2-year college* | 21.3 | 20.5 | 81.9 | |||
Technical school | 20.7 | 20.1 | 87.4† | |||
Special jurisdiction | 14.4† | 13.2† | 72.1† | |||
Multiagency | 17.5† | 16.8† | 86.1† | |||
Other state agency | 13.5† | 14.6† | 93.8† | |||
Training environmentb |
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More stress than nonstress** | 17.5% | 16.4% | 77.5% | |||
Balanced stress |
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More nonstress than stress | 21.6† | 21.1† | 86.3† | |||
Download .csv file (3K) |
Note: POST denotes Police Officers Standards and Training.
*Comparison group among types of academies.
**Comparison group among types of training environments.
†Difference with comparison group is significant at the 95% confidence level.
aThe completion ratio is the number of female recruits who completed basic training divided by the number who began basic training for academy classes ending in 2018.
bAcademies were asked about the degree to which their curriculum followed a stress model (i.e., military or paramilitary style), a nonstress model (i.e., academic or adult learning), or a combination of both models.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2018.
State | Percent | State | Percent | ||||
Montana | 34.3% | Maine | 15.0 | ||||
Idaho | 28.3 | Pennsylvania | 14.9 | ||||
California | 23.3 | Tennessee | 14.9 | ||||
Oklahoma | 23.2 | Maryland | 14.7 | ||||
District of Columbia | 21.9 | Minnesota | 14.6 | ||||
Georgia | 21.5 | South Dakota | 14.5 | ||||
Virginia | 20.8 | Arkansas | 14.4 | ||||
Florida | 20.5 | New Mexico | 14.2 | ||||
Colorado | 20.1 | Oregon | 13.8 | ||||
Texas | 20.0 | Rhode Island | 13.5 | ||||
Michigan | 19.7 | Vermont | 13.3 | ||||
Wisconsin | 19.1 | New Jersey | 13.1 | ||||
South Carolina | 19.0 | Hawaii | 12.4 | ||||
Louisiana | 18.8 | Washington | 12.4 | ||||
New York | 18.6 | New Hampshire | 12.3 | ||||
Connecticut | 18.6 | Massachusetts | 12.1 | ||||
North Carolina | 18.4 | Arizona | 11.7 | ||||
Mississippi | 18.1 | Indiana | 11.6 | ||||
Alaska | 17.3 | Alabama | 11.5 | ||||
Illinois | 17.1 | Iowa | 10.5 | ||||
Ohio | 17.0 | Utah | 9.6 | ||||
North Dakota | 16.8 | Wyoming | 9.0 | ||||
Kansas | 16.5 | Kentucky | 9.0 | ||||
Nebraska | 16.5 | Delaware | 8.3 | ||||
Missouri | 16.2 | West Virginia | 6.3 | ||||
Nevada | 15.7 |
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Download .csv file (2K)
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2018.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of criminal and civil justice systems at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. BJS collects, analyzes, and disseminates reliable statistics on crime and justice systems in the United States, supports improvements to state and local criminal justice information systems, and participates with national and international organizations to develop and recommend national standards for justice statistics. Alexis R. Piquero, PhD, is the director.
This report was written by Emily D. Buehler, PhD. Connor Brooks verified the report.
MAY 2023, NCJ 306490