As a result of exceptional public education and preemptive social services targeting crime reduction and poverty eradication, Johnson County has one of the lowest police to population ratios in the world. These initiatives result in a higher quality of life and much lower overall budget for law enforcement.
The average for the United States is 256 law enforcement officers per 100,000 people.[1] Based on that figure, Johnson County should have 340 law enforcement officers employed. At a salary of about $50,000 per year (approximate national average), that would cost $17 million dollars per year in salaries alone.
Instead, we have 248 officers for a population of 133,000 people. That’s about 186 officers per 100,000. That means there are about 108 countries that are more policed than Johnson County. [source] Even so, there is still room for improvement. China, Ghana, Iran, Kenya, and Finland are a few of the countries that have us beat as far as low policing numbers.
The police in Johnson County are distributed as follows:
- Iowa City Police: 82 Officers Protecting 68,947 Citizens (1 Officer per 841)
- Johnson County Sheriff: 67 Deputies + 25 Reserves
- University of Iowa: 44 Officers Protecting 33,654 Students/Faculty, over 7,100 employees of the Univ. of Iowa Hospital/Clinic (1 Officer per 926)
- Coralville Police: 33 Officers
- North Liberty Police: 17 Officers
- University Heights: 5 Officers + 8 Reserves
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