Law Enforcement Core Statistics (LECS)

For over 25 years, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has been the authoritative source for national statistics regarding the personnel, operations, policies, and procedures of law enforcement agencies (LEAs). These data are primarily collected through BJS’ core law enforcement data collection programs: the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) core and supplement surveys and the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA).

Through the Law Enforcement Core Statistics Program (LECS), BJS combines these collections into a cohesive law enforcement collection program and reshapes their content to focus on agency performance as well as contemporary topics related to agency staffing, regulations, and policies. By redesigning the component collections of LECS, BJS will be able to provide detailed information about LEA performance that aligns these collections with an ongoing national debate about the need for new measures and metrics for law enforcement agencies.

Current Collections

Beginning in August 2019, BJS and their data collection agent, RTI International, will administer the 2019 Survey of Law Enforcement Personnel in Schools (SLEPS), a new data collection examining the extent of law enforcement involvement in K-12 public schools in the U.S. For more information on SLEPS, visit: SLEPS 2019

In February 2019, BJS and RTI began administering the 2018 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies (CLETA), an enumeration of basic training academies for sworn law enforcement officers in the U.S. For more information on CLETA, visit: CLETA2018.

Coming Soon!

Beginning in fall 2020, BJS and RTI will administer the 2020 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Core Survey (LEMAS), a survey of general purpose law enforcement agencies that gathers nationally representative information about agencies on key factors like personnel, policies, and agency activities and trends over time. For more information on this collection, visit LEMAS 2020.