Armed Forces

Rick Henderson from the August/September 1998 issue

The federal law enforcement agency with the most gun-toting officers is neither the FBI nor the Bureau of Prisons but the Immigration and Naturalization Service. A Bureau of Justice Statistics report reveals that the INS employs some 12,400 armed agents, an increase of 31 percent since the last BJS survey in 1993. The Bureau of Prisons ranks second, with 11,300 armed officers (a 13 percent increase since 1993), and the FBI third, with 10,400 (up 3 percent).

Of the federal agencies with at least 500 armed officers, which grew the most? The Fish and Wildlife Service, at 40 percent.