ABSTRACT
The most visible image of the formal control applied by the criminal justice system comes in the form of the various police agencies across the United States. A variety of federal, state, municipal, special jurisdiction (housing authority, transit authority, etc.), and private agencies provide law enforcement services. The Bureau of Justice Statistics identified roughly 16,000 local and state police agencies. Combined with federal law enforcement, these agencies combine to employ approximately 885,000 sworn law enforcement officers across the country (Burch, 2012; Reaves, 2011).
