List of law enforcement agencies in the District of Columbia

District of Columbia flag

Badge of a Deputy U.S. Marshal

This is a list of law enforcement agencies in the District of Columbia.

According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics' 2008 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, the District had four local law enforcement agencies employing 4,262 sworn police officers, about 722 for each 100,000 residents. This is the highest proportion of police officers to citizens of any state or territory.^[1]

The oldest agencies are the:

• United States Marshals Service, founded September 24, 1789
• United States Park Police, founded in 1791 as park watchmen to guard federal property in DC
• Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, founded in 1861 (took the place of DC City Watch, founded in 1802)
• United States Secret Service, founded July 5, 1865
• District of Columbia Protective Services Division, founded by Congress in 1899 under the Watchmen in Municipal Facilities Act

Primary DC law enforcement (local and federal)

Patch of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (local municipal police covering all of DC with approximately 3,100 officers) United States Marshals (at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia only, deputies fulfill duties similar to those of a sheriff in local court matters, while deputies at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia perform more traditional and federal district court duties) United States Park Police (national parks federal police for the National Mall, monuments, parkways, and all national park service properties in D.C and surrounding regions; several hundred officers; shares jurisdiction with D.C. Metropolitan Police in addition to exercising federal authority) Metro Transit Police Department (jurisdiction in Metro rail and near Metro bus stops in DC, VA, and MD; 526 officers) District of Columbia Protective Services Division District of Columbia Housing Authority Office of Public Safety Washington National Cathedral Police (licensed by the MPD as special police) District of Columbia Library Police Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police (jurisdiction actually falls within specific locations in VA and MD; formerly FAA Police) Washington Humane Society, Department of Humane Law Enforcement (enforces the District's animal cruelty laws) District of Columbia Department of Corrections Federal police agencies with a uniformed presence in Washington, DC The majority of federal law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction in the District of Columbia; however, some are more overt than others. Amtrak Police (quasi-federal, as Amtrak is government-owned) Armed Forces Retirement Home Police (located in northwest Washington, DC; an independent, executive-level federal agency with a force of fewer than a dozen police officers and investigators; formerly known as the United States Sailor's and Airman's Home and the Soldier's Home; established in 1834) Bureau of Engraving and Printing Police Central Intelligence Agency Security Protective Service (Provides law enforcement and security services to CIA facilities in and around the District) District of Columbia National Guard Military Police/Security Forces, if any (unique in that the DC Guard always answers to the President rather than to a governor) Federal Bureau of Investigation Police (the FBI Police are the uniformed officers responsible for the protection of FBI facilities and employees) Federal Bureau of Prisons (United States Department of Justice) Federal Protective Service Government Printing Office Uniformed Police Branch Military Police (active and reserve of the various United States Armed Forces): Military Police Corps (United States Army); Master-at-arms (United States Navy); United States Air Force Security Forces; USMC Military Police; and the United States Coast Guard and United States Coast Guard Police Smithsonian Police and National Zoo Police (Smithsonian museums federal special police who maintain concurrent jurisdiction with the U.S. Park Police) Supreme Court Police (Supreme Court Federal Police; under a hundred officers) United States Capitol Police (Congressional Federal Police; many hundreds of officers) United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP Officers enforce customs laws at Reagan National and Dulles International Airport, and at the Port of Washington) United States Department of Veterans Affairs Police (VA Police, responsible for the Washington, DC, VA Medical Center) U.S. Federal Reserve Police (the law enforcement arm of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the US) United States Mint Police United States Park Police United States Pentagon Police (Pentagon Police also have jurisdiction at Department of Defense-leased property throughout the National Capital Region, and at the US Military Court of Appeals in Washington, DC) United States Postal Police (uniformed division of United States Postal Inspection Service) United States Secret Service Uniformed Division (Uniformed Division was formerly known as the White House Police Force) United States Department of Defense Police (Responsible for the Washington Navy Yard, Anacostia, Bolling Air Base, Naval Research Lab, et al.) United States State Department Diplomatic Security Uniformed Police (Responsible for the Harry S. Truman Building, Special State Department events, and several other State Department Offices) College and university agencies American University Police Department[2] Catholic University Department of Public Safety Gallaudet University Department of Public Safety George Washington University Police Department Georgetown University Police Department[3] Howard University Campus Police University of the District of Columbia Police Department See also Crime in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement in the United States List of United States federal law enforcement agencies List of United States state and local law enforcement agencies References 2008 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, by Brian A Reaves, US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, July 2011 American University Police Department Georgetown University Police Department