Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers

Minimal Risk
12%

Where Would You Like to Go Next?

Share your results with friends and family.
Get results for another job Compare to another job

Or, Explore This Profession in Greater Detail...

Vote Comments (33)
AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
6%
(Minimal Risk)
POLLING
16.9%
(Minimal Risk, Based on 706 votes)
Average: 12%
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
3.9%
by year 2033
WAGES
$72,280
or $34.75 per hour
Volume
646,310
as of 2023
SUMMARY
What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
7.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

People also viewed

Lawyers Actors Computer Programmers Commercial Pilots Web Developers

Calculated automation risk

6% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): Occupations in this category have a low probability of being automated, as they typically demand complex problem-solving, creativity, strong interpersonal skills, and a high degree of manual dexterity. These jobs often involve intricate hand movements and precise coordination, making it difficult for machines to replicate the required tasks.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some very important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Assisting and Caring for Others

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Social Perceptiveness

  • Persuasion

  • Negotiation

  • Originality

User poll

16.9% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a minimal chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 6% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

The following graph is shown where there are enough votes to produce meaningful data. It displays user poll results over time, providing a clear indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers' job openings is expected to rise 3.9% by 2033

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers' was $72,280, or $35 per hour

'Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers' were paid 50.4% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2023 there were 646,310 people employed as 'Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.43% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 234 people are employed as 'Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers'.

Job description

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.

SOC Code: 33-3051.00

Comments (33)

Leave a comment
burt (Low)
25 Nov 2024 03:54
if a robot pulls me over im driving away
sean (No chance)
13 Mar 2025 06:29
Requires human interaction and life altering decision making that relies on a multitude of different things acting in concert with each other.
Sam
12 Jul 2023 17:36
The public will likely never allow it to pass the legislature due to lack of trust for the technology.
Caleb (Low)
18 May 2023 00:31
Many aspects of this profession require a human element (i.e., emotional intelligence, de-escalation, interviewing, rapport building, etc.) that current AI technology is incapable of reproducing at this time.
steve jobs
22 Jul 2025 06:26
the ai does not have emotional intelligance wich is critical for a job such as a police officer
Will
20 Jul 2021 08:16
Over a year and NOBODY made a "Robocop" reference? The internet has disappointed me once again.
Angel Vollant (No chance)
09 Dec 2020 19:32
No chance. Policing requires critical thinking, logic, situational assessment and decision-making which can’t fit into a program. When a police officer sees someone committing a crime, it’s up to them to decide what to do. If a man’s smoking pot alone in the park, do they deserve to be arrested? The cop will go up to them, talk a bit, leave a warning and may or may not leave a ticket depending on how the man acts. If he’s polite and cooperative, the officer will probably let him off with a warning. If he’s erratic and violent, he’ll arrest him. A robot, however, won’t think that far. Sees someone committing a crime (smoking pot) and simply arrest him. If he doesn’t comply, use violence. They’re programmed to do what the programmer put into it. If someone has a knife, take them out. Simple as that. Doesn’t matter if it’s a woman defending herself against an abuser. The robot’ll see a knife and shoot her. Robocop explained it very well. Police officers need compassion and emotions. If you could program a robot to do that, you’ve got yourself a human.
Anonymous
06 Feb 2024 14:33
It's over 3 years since your post. AI has greatly progressed. I don't think anyone in 2020 thought AI would be where it is now. AI can easily do all the critical thinking, logic, situational assessment and decision-making, and it might not be available yet, but it is apparent that it can fit inside a program. What is more difficult is that policing requires a physical presence. Robotics just isn't there yet, and even if it ever does get there, you'd basically need a highly expensive robot to replace each individual officer. Whereas AI on a single server with access to multiple phone lines (and ai voice automation) can easily replace a 100+ person office.

It's not impossible for AI to take over policing, but due to economic factors, it is likely one of the least at-risk professions to be taken over by AI
aa (Moderate)
20 Dec 2024 04:55
Robots might be able to detect criminals and patrol cities
Deputy Dredd (Low)
21 Dec 2023 12:46
the question is would people find an automated law enforcement officer more credible than a human police officer. I think there will be more Artificial intelligence added to the job but not all automation as we currently understand computers
Philip Low (Low)
12 May 2023 19:10
Although unlikely I do believe that more technology will be Implemented into day to day policing and such tasks as processing criminals may become automated but a lot of the human elements will never be automated.
Kirsten
01 Feb 2023 18:48
Where I am from, they have automated speed radars and red light traffic cameras. Both of which will capture the vehicle registration and issue a ticket. Just saying. I agree it's safe from full take-over, but some changes will present.
Spencer Weeks
04 Apr 2025 01:44
Police still. Do red light camera with camera there that's not full take over just saying
Martin
28 Aug 2021 20:28
Partially replaced for sure. There will likely always be some people, but you can replace a lot of the monotonous work with machines. Cameras and sensors can spot speeders and light runners. The new Boston Dynamics robots can do backhand springs. One cop could send a host of A.I. swarm bots to a crack house and handle it like a video game. Quadcopters, mechanical mice with cameras and microphones, armed dog bots, humanoid arrest bots, and self-driving cars.
mister sir
05 Nov 2020 13:08
I think it's good that they have a low chance of being replaced by robots because although humans can be biased, humans make better decisions and can pick up on clues or emotions better.
My name isn't your bidness. (Uncertain)
09 Oct 2020 08:36
There is a lot of talk about things like the androids from D:BH so I think it could go either way if artificial intelligence is improved.
Bob
04 Apr 2025 01:45
It can't there unions and cops do lot jobs can't plus cosuttion don't allow robots ai fto have wepons period they can help but not take over
Khan (Low)
06 Apr 2020 15:01
Competent police officers require human communication skills and human coordination (for the later see the old “robots struggle to walk up stairs” problem)
frankie (Low)
10 Mar 2020 14:35
as police need to have good decision making skills as robots do not
Anonymous (Low)
20 Feb 2020 18:05
THAT IS CRAZY HOW WOULD THEY GET COPS REPLACED!??!!?
A
28 Aug 2024 05:12
It will be like Robocop, but the human is replaced with AI.
Meep (Uncertain)
06 Jan 2020 16:15
Because if you only go up to 20 years from now it may change past then.
Lachlan Beck (No chance)
03 Sep 2019 23:42
Because Robots lack the feeling of emotions and aren't able to be empathetic to other humans or robots therefore they lack a key skill of being an officer
Hope Pringle
15 Aug 2019 02:27
Yeah, I want to see a person behind the badge, not some dumb robot who can feel for the victims or people in general! I want to be a police officer when I grow up NO robot will take my job. I will not let that happen!
Ben
25 Aug 2019 15:58
A computer has the capacity to think thousands of times faster than a human. When AI and robotics reach the level of performing the job... People can't compete. Almost perfect job performance...or a human... You choose. Computers aren't stressed out, they have no bias... They are, in every way capable of being better at the job...
Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000