Enforce law and order in rural or unincorporated districts or serve legal processes of courts. May patrol courthouse, guard court or grand jury, or escort defendants.
U.S. Workers
666,990
Median Salary
$76,290
10-Year Growth
+3.1%
Annual Openings
53,700
Typical entry: High school diploma or equivalent
15 of 15 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Record daily activities and submit logs and other related reports and paperwork to appropriate authorities.
AI: Fully automatable - AI systems can fully automate logging, form-filling, and electronic submission workflows from sensor and voice inputs with current technologies.
Notify patrol units to take violators into custody or to provide needed assistance or medical aid.
AI: Fully automatable - Automated dispatch and alerting systems powered by AI can reliably notify patrol units and coordinate responses in real time.
Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.
AI: Partial - AI greatly aids investigations with data analysis, pattern detection, and evidence triage, but complex investigative judgment, interviews, and fieldwork remain human-led.
Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests.
AI: Partial - Autonomous vehicles and sensors can patrol and detect violations, yet issuing arrests and performing enforcement actions require human officers and legal authority.
Take control of accident scenes to maintain traffic flow, to assist accident victims, and to investigate causes.
AI: Partial - AI can help manage traffic, call responders, and analyze crash data, but taking control of an accident scene and providing victim assistance requires human on-scene action.
Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze records and statutes to flag inconsistencies and suggest appropriate charges but cannot make binding legal determinations or exercise required human judgment.
Execute arrest warrants, locating and taking persons into custody.
AI: Partial - AI can assist with locating suspects via data analysis and surveillance but cannot lawfully or physically carry out arrests and use-of-force actions.
Supervise law enforcement staff, such as jail staff, officers, and deputy sheriffs.
AI: Partial - AI can monitor staff performance, surface issues, and recommend actions but cannot assume full supervisory responsibility, legal accountability, or nuanced leadership decisions.
Serve statements of claims, subpoenas, summonses, jury summonses, orders to pay alimony, and other court orders.
AI: Partial - AI can generate, route, and optimize service paperwork and routes but cannot perform the in-person service or provide legally accepted proof of service by itself.
Question individuals entering secured areas to determine their business, directing and rerouting individuals as necessary.
AI: Partial - AI kiosks, cameras, and chatbots can screen and reroute individuals for routine access control but lack the nuanced judgment and authority required for complex confrontations.
Place people in protective custody.
AI: Partial - AI can support risk assessment, triage, and paperwork for protective custody but cannot physically detain, transport, or assume legal custody.
Patrol and guard courthouses, grand jury rooms, or assigned areas to provide security, enforce laws, maintain order, and arrest violators.
AI: Partial - AI-enabled surveillance and analytics can detect threats, monitor areas, and alert personnel but cannot physically intervene, enforce laws, or make arrests.
Manage jail operations and tend to jail inmates.
AI: Partial - AI can automate monitoring, scheduling, record-keeping, and some inmate services, but cannot fully replace human supervision, care, and custodial actions in jail operations.
Transport or escort prisoners and defendants en route to courtrooms, prisons or jails, attorneys' offices, or medical facilities.
AI: Partial - AI can schedule, route, and monitor prisoner transports and provide remote oversight but cannot substitute for the physical custodial transport and on-the-ground security currently required.
Locate and confiscate real or personal property, as directed by court order.
AI: Partial - AI can search records, identify likely locations, and support asset-tracing investigations but cannot lawfully seize property or carry out physical confiscation without human agents.