The federal government of the United States empowers a wide range of law enforcement agencies to maintain law and public order related to matters affecting the country as a whole.
Overview
Federal law enforcement authorities have authority, given to them under various parts of the United States Code (U.S.C.). Federal law enforcement officers enforce various laws, generally at only the federal level. There are exceptions, with some agencies and officials enforcing state and tribal codes. Most are limited by the U.S. Code to investigating matters that are explicitly within the power of the federal government. Some federal investigative powers have become broader in practice, since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in October 2001.
The Department of Justice was formerly the largest, and remains, as of 2014, the most prominent collection of law enforcement agencies, and handled most law enforcement duties at the federal level. It includes the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and others. In 2002, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created by an act of Congress.
There is also U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which includes the Office of Air and Marine, the Office of Border Patrol, and the Office of Field Operations. CBP's components have the primary responsibility of enforcing customs and immigration laws at and between the ports of entry of the United States; the Federal Protective Service (FPS) is responsible for federal law enforcement in federal buildings and properties. Including elements of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, DHS now has more sworn armed federal law enforcement agents and officers than any other department of the United States government.
While the majority of federal law enforcement employees work for the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, there are dozens of other federal law enforcement agencies under the other executive departments, as well as under the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government.
History
Federal law enforcement in the United States is well over two hundred years old. For example, the Postal Inspection Service can trace its origins back to 1772.
List of agencies and units of agencies
Agencies in bold text are Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA).
Executive Branch
Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Office of Inspector General (USDAOIG)
- United States Forest Service (USFS)
- U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations (USFSLEI)
Department of Commerce (DOC)
- Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
- Office of Export Enforcement (OEE)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology Police (NIST Police)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
- * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement (OLE)
- Department of Commerce Office of Security (DOCOS)
- Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General (DOCOIG)
Department of Defense
- Office of Inspector General (DODOIG)
- Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS)
- Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA)
- United States Pentagon Police (USPPD)
- Department of Defense Police
- Defense Logistics Agency Police (DLA)
- National Security Agency Police (NSA)
- Defense Intelligence Agency Police (DIA)
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Police (NGA)
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)
- Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)
Department of the Army
- United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID)
- United States Army Military Police Corps
- Department of the Army Police
- United States Army Corrections Command
- Army Counterintelligence (CI), United States Army Intelligence and Security Command
- Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
- United States Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division (MC CID)
- Department of the Navy Police (civilian police)
- Marine Corps Provost Marshal's Office (military police)
- United States Marine Corps Police (civilian police)
- US Navy Master-at-arms (military police)
Department of the Air Force
- Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI)
- Air Force Security Forces Center (AFSFC)
- Air Force Security Forces (military police)
- Department of the Air Force Police (civilian police)
Department of Education
- Office of the Inspector General (EDOIG)
Department of Energy (DOE)
- Office of Inspector General (DOEOIG)
- Office of Health, Safety and Security (DOEHSS)
- Office of Secure Transportation (OST)
Department of Health and Human Services
- United States Food and Drug Administration (HHSFDA)
- Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- National Institutes of Health Police (NIH Police)
- Office of Inspector General (HHSOIG)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)
- National Protection and Programs Directorate
- Federal Protective Service (FPS)
- United States Coast Guard (USCG)
- Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS)
- United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Office of Air and Marine (OAM)
- Office of Border Patrol (OBP)
- Office of Field Operations (OFO)
- United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO)
- Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
- Office of Intelligence
- Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)
- United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
- United States Secret Service (USSS)
- Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
- Office of Law Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service (OLE/FAMS)
- Office of Inspection (OI)
- Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHSOIG)
Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Office of Inspector General (HUD/OIG) [1]
- Protective Service Division (HUDPSD)
Department of the Interior (USDI)
- Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
- Bureau of Indian Affairs Police (BIA Police)
- Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- Bureau of Land Management Office of Law Enforcement (BLM Rangers and Special Agents)
- Bureau of Reclamation (BOR)
- Bureau of Reclamation Office of Law Enforcement (BOR Rangers)
- Hoover Dam Police aka Bureau of Reclamation Police
- National Park Service (NPS)
- Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services (U.S. Park Rangers-Law Enforcement)
- United States Park Police
- Office of Inspector General (DOIOIG)
- Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE)
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
- Office of Law Enforcement
- Division of Refuge Law Enforcement
Department of Justice (USDOJ)
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
- United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) (since 1973)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Police (FBI Police)
- Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
- Office of Inspector General (DOJOIG)
- United States Marshals Service (USMS)
Department of Labor
- Office of Inspector General (DOLOIG)
Department of State (DoS)
- Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS)
- U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)
- Office of Foreign Missions
- Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State
Department of Transportation
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- Office of Inspector General (DOTOIG)
- United States Merchant Marine Academy Department of Public Safety (USMMADPS)
- Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation - NHTSA (OFI)
Department of the Treasury
- Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP)
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing Police (BEP Police)
- Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN)
- Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI)
- Office of Inspector General (TREASOIG)
- Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)
- United States Mint Police (USMP)
- Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP)
Department of Veterans Affairs
- Office of Inspector General (VAOIG)
- Veterans Affairs Police
Legislative Branch
- Library of Congress, Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness (LOC)
- Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives
- Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate
- United States Capitol Police (USCP)
- United States Government Printing Office Police
- Office of Inspector General, United States Government Printing Office
Judicial Branch
- Marshal of the United States Supreme Court
- United States Supreme Court Police
- Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Office of Probation and Pretrial Services (AOUSC)
Other federal law enforcement agencies
Independent Agencies and Quasi-official Corporations
- Central Intelligence Agency Security Protective Service (CIASPS)
- United States Environmental Protection Agency
- Criminal Investigation Division (EPACID)
- Office of Inspector General (EPAOIG)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Office of Inspector General (NASAOIG)
- NASA Protective Services
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Inspector General (NRCOIG)
- Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General (OPMOIG)
- Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Inspector General (RRBOIG)
- Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General (SBAOIG)
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General (FDICOIG)
- General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General (GSAOIG)
- Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSAOIG)
- United States Postal Service (USPS)
- USPS Office of Inspector General (USPSOIG)
- United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)
- * U.S. Postal Police
- Smithsonian Institution
- Office of Protection Services (SI)
- National Zoological Park Police (NZPP)
- Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
- Amtrak
- Amtrak Office of Inspector General
- Amtrak Office of Security Strategy and Special Operations (OSSSO)
- Amtrak Police
- Federal Reserve Bank: Federal Reserve Police
- Tennessee Valley Authority Office of Inspector General (TVAOIG)
- United States Agency for International Development, Office of Inspector General (AIDOIG)
Statistics
- In 2004, federal agencies employed approximately 105,000 full-time personnel authorized to make arrests and carry firearms in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Compared with 2002, employment of such personnel increased by 13%.
- Nationwide, there were 36 federal officers per 100,000 residents. Outside the District of Columbia, which had 1,662 per 100,000, State ratios ranged from 90 per 100,000 in Arizona to 7 per 100,000 in Iowa.
- As of 2004, about 3 in 4 federal law enforcement officers working outside the Armed Forces were employed within the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice.
- Federal officers' duties included criminal investigation (38%), police response and patrol (21%), corrections and detention (16%), inspections (16%), court operations (5%), and security and protection (4%).
- Women accounted for 16% of federal officers in 2004, an increase from 14.8% in 2002.
- A third (33.2%) of federal officers were members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2004. This included 17.7% who were Hispanic or Latino, and 11.4% who were black or African American. In 2002, racial or ethnic minorities officers comprised 32.4% of federal officers.
- Twenty-seven federal offices of inspector general (IG) employed criminal investigators with arrest and firearm authority in 2004. Overall, these agencies employed 2,867 such officers in the 50 states and District of Columbia.
See also
- Law enforcement in the United States
References
-  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government.