TITLE

Federal Law Enforcement: Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement Functions and Authorities: GAO-07-121

AUTHOR(S)

Larence, Eileen

PUB. DATE

December 2006

SOURCE

GAO Reports;12/19/2006, p1

SOURCE TYPE

Government Document

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) within the federal government play a key role in maintaining the safety and security of federal property, employees, and the general public. In this report, we describe the number of LEOs that federal civilian law enforcement components employed as of June 30, 2006; the federal job series classifications the components used to employ LEOs; and the sources of their primary legal authorities. To identify federal components that employ LEOs, we consulted, among other sources, the Federal Citizen Information Center's Cabinet Agencies and Independent Agencies and Commissions Directory; a list of organizations included in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) 2004-2005 List of Agencies Trained at FLETC; and federal agencies listed in Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2002, published by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). We identified 104 federal civilian law enforcement components and administered two Web-based surveys to each--one survey on the primary authorities and the other survey on the job series classifications. We defined an LEO as an individual authorized to perform any of four specific functions: (1) conduct criminal investigations, (2) execute search warrants, (3) make arrests, or (4) carry firearms. The 104 federal components we surveyed reported a total of 137,929 LEOs as of June 30, 2006, who were authorized to perform at least one of 4 specified law enforcement functions. These 104 components operate within 14 departments and 28 nondepartmental entities. Seven of the 104 components account for 93,263 (68 percent) of all LEOs. Six of these 7 components are within the Department of Justice (DOJ) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DOJ and DHS accounted for 108,324 (79 percent) of the total civilian LEOs--58,489 and 49,835 respectively. The components reported using 211 different job series classifications or titles for their LEOs. They also reported employing 121,821 LEOs under 188 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) job series classifications and 16,108 LEOs under 23 non-OPM job series or titles. The most widely used OPM job series is the 1811 criminal investigator series used by 71 different LEO components. The next three job series with the largest number of LEOs were the 1895 Customs and Border Protection officer series, the 0007 correctional officer series, and 1896 Border Patrol agent series. All of the components cited federal statutes as a primary source of their authorities to perform law enforcement functions. Additionally, 40 components reported federal regulations, rules, or procedures as primary sources of authority. Other sources included memorandums of understanding, presidential directives, internal directives and orders, and delegation of authority from other federal agencies. We provided a draft of this report to the 104 components included in the survey for comment. We received a number of technical comments, which we...

ACCESSION #

23495108

Tags: FEDERAL laws;  LAW enforcement;  POLICE;  GOVERNMENT property;  CIVIL service;  UNITED States. Government Accountability Office

 

Related Articles

• FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT: Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement Mandatory Basic Training. Larence, Eileen R. // GAO Reports;9/11/2007, preceding pi 

  The article provides information about the report "Survey of Federal Civilian Law Enforcement Mandatory Basic Training," released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). In this report, GAO describes the mandatory basic law enforcement training that the components reported requiring...

• Better Data on Facility Jurisdictions Needed to Enhance Collaboration with State and Local Law Enforcement.  // GAO Reports;4/26/2012, preceding p1 

  The article focuses on a report of the U.S Government Accountability Office regarding the collaboration of the U.S Federal Protective Service (FPS) with the state and local law enforcement in order to get better data. A new inspector based workforce is established to improve the collaboration...

• 2. GAO's Report on Personnel Flexibilities.  // GAO Reports;11/13/2009, p152 

  A variety of reports on personnel flexibilities that relate to articles that appeared in the 2009 issue of Government Accountability Office (GAO) "Performance and Accountability Report" are presented.

• 2020 CENSUS: Additional Steps Are Needed to Build on Early Planning. Goldenkoff, Robert // GAO Reports;5/17/2012, preceding p1 

  The article provides information on a report submitted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to the U.S. House regarding the evaluation and steps taken to address foreign police assistance activities by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of...

• AMERICAN SAMOA: Issues Associated with Some Federal Court Options. Jenkins Jr., William O. // GAO Reports;9/18/2008, p1 

  The article discusses the findings of the study conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the American Samoa's system for addressing matters of federal law. It includes a review on the current system for adjudicating matters of federal law and the opposing stance on the...

• MARITIME SECURITY: Varied Actions Taken to Enhance Cruise Ship Security, but Some Concerns Remain. Caldwell, Stephen L. // GAO Reports;5/10/2010, preceding p1 

  The article examines the actions taken to enhance cruise ship security by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). It was found that the risk to cruise ships is assessed in accordance with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) guidelines. Federal agencies and law enforcement...

• Pipeline Safety: Preliminary Information on the Office of Pipeline Safety's Actions to Strengthen Its Enforcement Program: GAO-04-985T. Siggerud, Katherine // GAO Reports;7/20/2004, p1 

  Interstate pipelines carrying natural gas and hazardous liquids (such as petroleum products) are safer to the public than other modes of freight transportation. The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), the federal agency that administers the national regulatory program to ensure safe pipeline...

• Pipeline Safety: Management of the Office of Pipeline Safety's Enforcement Program Needs Further Strengthening: GAO-04-801. Siggerud, Katherine A. // GAO Reports;7/23/2004, p1 

  While pipelines are inherently safer to the public than other modes of freight transportation, pipeline accidents involving natural gas and hazardous liquids (such as gasoline) can have serious consequences. For example, a natural gas pipeline ruptured near Carlsbad, New Mexico, in 2000, killed...

• Military Pay: DOD Improperly Paid Army National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers in Deserter Status: GAO-06-848R. Kutz, Gregory D. // GAO Reports;8/28/2006, p1 

  Over the past several years, we have reported examples of hundreds of Army National Guard and Army Reserve (Army Guard and Reserve) soldiers who received inaccurate and untimely payroll payments due to a labor-intensive, error-prone pay process; human capital weaknesses; and the lack of...

Read the Article