The police department suffices for general purposes of law enforcement. However, the organization and staff levels often depend on various activities. For instance, New York Police service oversees more activities in comparison to City of Cumberland Police department which oversees lesser activities. In York, the staff level surpasses five hundred while Cumberland only has fifty officers with four personnel officers.
New York police are organized functionally with internal departments including neighborhood association, York County gang prevention, police alert network, and police community service. On the other hand, in Cumberland the staff is organized in three broad categories which include administration, patrol and investigation. It should be appreciated that police organization and staffing is equally affected by the population serviced. In this case, New York police are charged with serving population ranging in millions of New York inhabitants. For Cumberland, the population is approximately 21500 with the area of Cumberland stretching about ten miles radius. However, from a general perspective any members in both departments can give emergency services whenever need arises. The police in America are trained on general skills and emergency service delivery for such purposes. However, as it stands the York police internal department facilitates specialization for purposes of handling particular areas. This form of organization is preferable since it comes with efficacy and efficiency. It also creates a sense of professionalism and performance excellence as officers are purposely trained and equipped for a line of tasks. This is not to suggest that the Cumberland police are less efficient. It is only that in the latter, the officers perform a litany of activities and do not have detailed specialization for particular functions. However, given the limited area of coverage, the net effect is not as substantial.
References
The City of Cumberland, Maryland. (2013, September 12). Police Department . Retrieved September 23, 2013, from The City of Cumberland, Maryland: http://www.ci.cumberland.md.us/new_site/index.php/contents/view/50
