Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, state, or federal laws and ordinances. Perform a combination of the following duties: patrol a specific area; direct traffic; issue traffic summonses; investigate accidents; apprehend and arrest suspects, or serve legal processes of courts. Includes police officers working at educational institutions.
670,520 people do this job in the US. $76,210 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 9%
- 0%
- 91%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 9%. Today's estimate: 9%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 30 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 12% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 2.5 h25 min to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Provide for public safety by maintaining order, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property, enforcing motor vehicle and criminal laws, and promoting good community relations.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 11% | 1.7 h25 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 2.5 h38 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Supervise law enforcement staff, such as jail staff, officers, and deputy sheriffs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Patrol specific area on foot, horseback, or motorized conveyance, responding promptly to calls for assistance.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 1.7 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Patrol and guard courthouses, grand jury rooms, or assigned areas to provide security, enforce laws, maintain order, and arrest violators.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor traffic to ensure motorists observe traffic regulations and exhibit safe driving procedures.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Investigate traffic accidents and other accidents to determine causes and to determine if a crime has been committed.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Monitor, note, report, and investigate suspicious persons and situations, safety hazards, and unusual or illegal activity in patrol area.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min13 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Detectives and Criminal Investigators35% now, 67% by 2028
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives29% now, 53% by 2028
- Transit and Railroad Police10% now, 31% by 2028
- Bailiffs8% now, 9% by 2028
- Private Detectives and Investigators12% now, 59% by 2028
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists42% now, 56% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).