AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers?

Task-level automation exposure for Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers: 30 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

28% weighted task index

30 of 30 tasks scored

Median Salary

$76,210 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Very High

670,520 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+3.5% employment change

51,500 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 53 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$45,510 – $118,880

Highest medians

California $118,880

Washington $102,080

Illinois $100,520

Alaska $99,130

Colorado $97,350

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $45,510

Mississippi $46,140

Arkansas $47,670

Louisiana $48,380

Alabama $51,270

State figures come from the 33-3051 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 28%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 27%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 24%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 11%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 60/100 High

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

30 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 9%

3 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 24%

7 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 66%

20 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Emerging & rewritten tasks

Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.

New 08/2026 · Incumbent

Organize community events and programs to educate community members about law enforcement practices.

Constituent Tasks

#23052 · Core · 8% automatable

Provide for public safety by maintaining order, responding to emergencies, protecting people and property, enforcing motor vehicle and criminal laws, and promoting good community relations.

situated mobility — Emergency response needs physical action in the world

Maintain public order or security. Respond to emergencies to provide assistance.

#23051 · Core · 3% automatable

Identify, pursue, and arrest suspects and perpetrators of criminal acts.

physical manipulation — Physically apprehending suspects

Apprehend criminal suspects.

#23062 · Core · 55% automatable

Verify that the proper legal charges have been made against law offenders.

information retrieval — Legal research strong, judgment and accountability human

Investigate legal issues.

#23054 · Core · 5% automatable

Render aid to accident survivors and other persons requiring first aid for physical injuries.

physical manipulation — Administering first aid requires physical intervention

Administer first aid.

#23053 · Core · 72% automatable

Record facts to prepare reports that document incidents and activities.

text generation — Incident reports drafted from facts; human reviews

Prepare investigation or incident reports.

#23056 · Core · 30% automatable

Review facts of incidents to determine if criminal act or statute violations were involved.

physical manipulation — Scene inspection and evidence gathering human

Investigate accidents to determine causes.

#23055 · Core · 30% automatable

Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.

decision support — Investigation is human fieldwork with judgment

Investigate illegal or suspicious activities.

#23059 · Core · 15% automatable

Drive vehicles or patrol specific areas to detect law violators, issue citations, and make arrests.

situated mobility — Patrolling properties is embodied mobile work

Patrol properties to maintain safety.

#23057 · Core · 42% automatable

Monitor, note, report, and investigate suspicious persons and situations, safety hazards, and unusual or illegal activity in patrol area.

text generation — Relaying situation details is structured communication

Investigate illegal or suspicious activities. Maintain surveillance of individuals or establishments. Communicate situation details to appropriate personnel.

#23067 · Core · 30% automatable

Investigate traffic accidents and other accidents to determine causes and to determine if a crime has been committed.

physical manipulation — Scene inspection and evidence gathering human

Investigate accidents to determine causes.

#23065 · Core · 3% automatable

Execute arrest warrants, locating and taking persons into custody.

physical manipulation — Physically apprehending suspects

Apprehend criminal suspects.

#23061 · Core · 50% automatable

Relay complaint and emergency-request information to appropriate agency dispatchers.

interpersonal — Live radio relay of incidents is real-time human

Relay information about incidents or emergencies to personnel using phones or two-way radios.

#23066 · Core · 13% automatable

Patrol specific area on foot, horseback, or motorized conveyance, responding promptly to calls for assistance.

situated mobility — Patrolling properties is embodied mobile work

Patrol properties to maintain safety. Respond to emergencies to provide assistance.

#23060 · Core · 35% automatable

Monitor traffic to ensure motorists observe traffic regulations and exhibit safe driving procedures.

situated mobility — Managing physical flow of people needs on-site presence

Monitor access or flow of people to prevent problems.

#23058 · Core · 15% automatable

Testify in court to present evidence or act as witness in traffic and criminal cases.

interpersonal — Testimony carries legal accountability and live presence

Testify at legal or legislative proceedings.

#23064 · Core · 55% automatable

Evaluate complaint and emergency-request information to determine response requirements.

decision support — Procedures drafted; human validates feasibility

Determine operational procedures.

#23079 · Core · 3% automatable

Place people in protective custody.

physical manipulation — Physically detaining suspects

Detain suspects or witnesses.

#23072 · Core · 12% automatable

Patrol and guard courthouses, grand jury rooms, or assigned areas to provide security, enforce laws, maintain order, and arrest violators.

situated mobility — Patrolling properties is embodied mobile work

Patrol properties to maintain safety. Guard facilities.

#23073 · Core · 3% automatable

Transport or escort prisoners and defendants en route to courtrooms, prisons or jails, attorneys' offices, or medical facilities.

situated mobility — Physical custody and escort of prisoners

Escort prisoners to courtrooms, prisons, or other facilities.

#23063 · Core · 20% automatable

Photograph or draw diagrams of crime or accident scenes and interview principals and eyewitnesses.

interpersonal — Criminal interviews need human judgment and presence

Interview people to gather information about criminal activities. Record crime or accident scene evidence with video or still cameras.

#23069 · Core · 60% automatable

Notify patrol units to take violators into custody or to provide needed assistance or medical aid.

text generation — Relaying situation details is structured communication

Communicate situation details to appropriate personnel.

#23068 · Core · 5% automatable

Direct traffic flow and reroute traffic in case of emergencies.

situated mobility — Directing live traffic requires physical presence

Direct vehicle traffic.

#23071 · Core · 33% automatable

Question individuals entering secured areas to determine their business, directing and rerouting individuals as necessary.

situated mobility — Managing physical flow of people needs on-site presence

Interview people to obtain information about actions or status of individuals. Monitor access or flow of people to prevent problems.

#23074 · Core · 57% automatable

Inform citizens of community services and recommend options to facilitate longer-term problem resolution.

decision support — Safety recommendations drafted; site verification human

Inform the public about policies, services or procedures. Recommend improvements to increase safety or reduce risks.

#23076 · Core · 10% automatable

Provide road information to assist motorists.

situated mobility — Roadside physical assistance in unpredictable settings

Assist motorists or pedestrians.

#23078 · Supplemental · 25% automatable

Supervise law enforcement staff, such as jail staff, officers, and deputy sheriffs.

interpersonal — Law enforcement direction is live authority-bearing command

Direct law enforcement activities.

#23077 · Supplemental · 71% automatable

Process prisoners, and prepare and maintain records of prisoner bookings and prisoner status during booking and pre-trial process.

data analysis — Maintain operational records in structured systems

Record information about suspects or criminals. Maintain operational records.

#23075 · Supplemental · 15% automatable

Locate and confiscate real or personal property, as directed by court order.

visual inspection — Spotting suspicious objects needs physical visual search

Locate suspicious objects or vehicles. Confiscate prohibited or dangerous items.

#23080 · Supplemental · 59% automatable

Conduct community programs for all ages concerning topics such as drugs and violence.

text generation — Health messaging drafted by AI; public delivery human

Communicate health and wellness information to the public. Present social services program information to the public.

#23070 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Serve statements of claims, subpoenas, summonses, jury summonses, orders to pay alimony, and other court orders.

situated mobility — Physical service of court documents in the world

Serve court ordered documents.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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