Policy Brief: Understanding Trends in Law Enforcement Staffing

Law enforcement agencies at the state, county, and local levels employ over 77,000 individuals with arrest powers across California, spending about $28 billion on policing. Research shows that hiring additional law enforcement officers reduces crime, especially violent crime. Yet agencies have experienced challenges around officer recruitment and retention in recent years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, and societal changes.

Bringing together several new and underused data sources, we provide key trends and context for understanding officer staffing in California, highlighting several obstacles for agencies moving forward.

Officer staffing is below pre-pandemic levels

Despite small growth over the last two years, the statewide officer count (77,200) in 2024 is 3 percent less than it was in 2019 (79,600). California has 196 officers per 100,000 residents, down from a peak of 221 in 2008.