The 2010 Decennial Census is upon us. The goal of the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, is to meet constitutional and legislative requirements to count the U.S. population. The decennial census process is the largest domestic undertaking in the United States.

In an effort to accurately count the population, census questionnaires will be delivered either by hand or mail to residents, beginning in February 2010. Through late August 2010, Census Bureau temporary field staff will work in neighborhoods across the United States to deliver questionnaires, collect information from those who have not returned their census questionnaire, and verify addresses.

Local law enforcement may encounter questions from residents about strangers in their neighborhoods. The Census Bureau wants to ensure that local law enforcement can identify Census Bureau employees, both temporary decennial employees and permanent field representatives, and have issued identification cards to all employees.

The Census Bureau is providing local law enforcement agencies with a poster containing sample pictures of employee identification cards, an explanation of how to verify legitimate census employees, and information about how the census data are protected and used.

These data produced from the decennial census are used to reapportion the seats of the U.S. House of Representatives and realign the boundaries of the legislative districts of each state. Census data also are used to allocate more than $400 billion each year in federal financial assistance and to provide a social, demographic, and economic profile of the Nation’s people. This profile assists in guiding policy decisions at each level of government.