Abstract
The police are important bodies of persons that are given the mandate ensure that the law is followed, as well as maintaining order in the society and offering service. The police also assist the law courts by carrying out investigations on possible criminal scenarios; this information is used by the courts to execute judgment on a suspected law breaker. Policing is done through policing agencies and the various levels addressed by this document.
The policing system in America is non-centralized unlike several other countries that have a central structure of policing such as France and Italy (Palmiotto, 2011). Hence, there are three levels of policing namely Federal, State and Local levels. The federal level has several agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Secret Service. The State level police have the State Police and the Highway Patrol. Lastly, the local level police have Municipal, County and Sheriff Departments. The large part of policing is carried out and organized by the villages, cities and towns.
Federal policing
The federal police have the authority to put into effect, order and law at the federal level. Their authority is described under the United-States-Code. The federal police work hand in hand with the Federal Law Enforcement officers. Federal Law Enforcement officers are accountable for the enforcement of laws at a federal level. The federal police have a nation-wide jurisdiction in enforcing federal law but are limited to matters that are within the federal government. Most of the federal law is enforced by The Department of Homeland Security, The Department of Justice, The Department of Interior and The Department of treasury.
The above departments are responsible for;
Carrying out independent Crime investigation.
Representing the government in court cases.
Putting into effect all federal laws.
Storage of Crime and Security related information in physical files and computers.
Protecting the country from terrorist attacks.
Protecting the countries secrets from spy related attacks.
Protecting the country for cyber related attacks.
Surveillance of drugs related operations as well as infiltrating drug cartels.
The State police consist of the Highway Patrol and the State Police. The Highway Patrol is responsible in ensuring that the highway rules are followed by all motorists as well as the smooth flow of highway traffic. The State Police are responsible in carrying out crime investigation; in some cases the State Police does assist the Local Police with crime Investigation. Some states have a police agency that is responsible for handling general police duties as well as traffic rules enforcement; examples of these states are New York and Pennsylvania.
Local policing
The Local police have the largest personnel compared to the Federal and State police agencies. Under Local Police there are Metropolitan Police and Sheriff Departments.
The Metropolitan Police is headed by a Police Commissioner or a Police Chief. The Metropolitan Police operate Towns, large Counties and Cities
On the other hand The Sheriff Department operates in counties and is headed by a Sheriff.
The functions of local policing include;
The handling of executive and civil documents.
Investigation of public offences.
Tax collection.
Acting as a court Bailiff.
Managing operations at the County Jail.
Provision of Police service to the population.
Cooperation
The Federal, State and local do work together in the case of big events such as Super Bowl; Presidential inaugurations just to mention a few.
The State Police assists the Local Police with crime investigation
Through the Criminal Justice System, the Police, Correctional Centers and the Courts of law work together in reacting to crime and dealing with law breakers. Therefore it is very important for these three departments to have effective communication and a spirit of cooperation as the carryout there tasks since they all need each other in handling law breaking.
Similarities
There are few similarities in the three levels of policing for example; all three levels carry out crime investigation.
Differences
The federal level of policing protects the country from negative foreign interference, while the State and the local level police deal with maintaining order and law within the country.
The Local level police have the largest employee count followed by the local and federal police levels respectively (Walker, 2008).
Challenges
In-efficiency has affected the police department due to limited resources which in turn has led to inconvenience such as a taking a long time to respond to emergencies.
Negative political influence from influential persons.
Corruption is a major vice affecting policing since few police officers who accept a bribe from rogue citizens who have broken the law (Dempsey, 2012).
Incompetence in dealing with some scenarios.
Conclusion
The Law enforcement has evolved over the years through the use formal and informal forms of governments to come up with the rules based on acceptable and un-acceptable behavior. The police structure is decentralized due to the fear of a strong centralized government which is the form that Britain as colonialists took. The three levels of policing should offer each other the relevant support required. The police departments and agencies depend on other non policing agencies and department in curbing crime and handling law breakers therefore, the policing departments should cooperate with these non policing departments such as the Correctional Department and the Law Courts.
References
Palmiotto, M., & Unnithan, N. P. (2011). Policing & society: A global approach. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2012). An introduction to policing. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Walker, S., & Katz, C. M. (2008). The police in America: An introduction. Boston (Mass.: McGraw Hill.
