The policing function in America is a non-military function involving civilian roles (Cordner and Scarborough, 2010). The role of the police in the United States is summed up as “to protect and serve”. This is an oversimplified version of the police role, but the true role of the police can be subdivided into two components: enforcement of law and maintenance of order across the nation (Castberg, 2002) Much of the police functions involves providing service rather than enforcing the law. The average police officer is never supposed to fire his weapon when delivering on his duties unless in extreme situations. However, some of the most important functions of a police officer in the United States include enforcement of laws, the apprehension of criminals, collection of evidence, prosecution of criminals. The police also ensure that order is maintained among the citizens.
Policing is a predominantly a local function, which is mostly directed and funded by local governments. The police function is also extremely fragmented and divided over numerous types of agencies. The police are unevenly distributed all across the country and mostly, they are answerable to local officials elected by citizens during elections. Of the almost eighteen thousand agencies that enforce the law, roughly sixteen thousand belong to the local organizational level. The remaining two thousand agencies are comprised of police agencies of with special jurisdiction and include transit police, university police, and park police (Cordner and Scarborough, 2010). This number also includes police officers working under the state agencies, and the federal agencies that are non-military in execution of their duties. Out of approximately eight thirty-seven thousand sworn, full-time police officers, seventy-four percent (74%) are recruited to work in local agencies, thirteen percent enforce laws in the federal organizations, and the remaining thirteen percent work for state agencies or special jurisdiction agencies that enforce laws.
The policing function is concentrated at the local organizational level, and it is executed by two large components. The local police are further divided into the municipal police departments and county sheriff’s offices (Cordner and Scarborough, 2010). The municipal police departments comprise police personnel attached to cities, townships, villages, boroughs, and towns. The organization of the local police agencies is such that most are small in size; seventy-seven percent are made up of twenty-five or less full-time officers. Additionally, the agencies are independent of one another. Within the individual police agencies, there is the absence of a defined chain of command.
County Law Enforcement Agencies
These falls under the local police level and are populated by police officers that enforce criminal law in rural counties in America which are about 3000. The sheriffs do not interfere with the functions of municipal law enforcement agencies because the incorporated cities and towns have police structures of their own. The county sheriff’s departments perform other major duties apart from county law enforcement. These duties are maintaining county jails, which are holding places of pretrial detainees, and persons sentenced for small misdemeanors (University of Minnesota, 2002). The other duty is being an officer of the county courts. This duty involves supplying of bailiff’s to issue management and security of detainees who are on trial, and transporting prisoners to courts to attend trial and from courts to county jails. Moreover, this duty involves serving different types of court papers, such as eviction and forfeiture notices, summonses, and judgments delivered in courts.
Municipal police departments
The agencies fall under the local police level, comprising police personnel attached to cities, townships, villages, boroughs, and towns. New York City employs majority of the municipal officers; in the range of 37000 officers. Municipal police officers are tasked with maintaining order and enforcing the law in cities, townships and boroughs. However, it is noted that little is known about municipal police operations (Ebbe, 2013).
The state and federal emergencies emerged to respond to the lack of effectiveness that was perceived to be prevalent in the local police (Ebbe, 2013). Some US states have state police agencies that have a statewide authority. The police forces for states originated from the Texas Rangers, who constantly patrolled Texas settlements in the 1800s. Policing at the state level is categorized into state patrol officers and state police. The state patrol officers are responsible for control of the police whereas the state police are tasked with enforcing certain regulations (Ebbe, 2013). The authority of the state patrol officers is limited to enforcement of traffic laws. Moreover, they have limited authority to investigate crimes that occur only in the presence of a state trooper or crimes occurring near highways operated by state governments.
Governors of different states are tasked with appointing the directors of the state patrols or state police. There is continuous technological advancement in devices used to control traffic on state highways, test for alcohol misuse by highway users, and communications systems (Ebbe, 2013). This calls for state police officers to develop their ability and shore up their training. The training requirements and standards for police officers are being harmonized across states. This is being done through academies specifically established for these agencies, and in collaboration with higher learning institutions. After state police personnel complete their training, they can advance in their ranks through merit plans or civil service. Additionally, most states are involved in maintaining “criminalistics’ or ‘crime lab’ services used to support units involved in investigations.
Federal policing functions
Federal police agencies are legally part of the U.S government’ executive branch. These agencies are independent of local and state law enforcement agencies, and of agencies involved in judicial and legislative duties. They are various examples of the federal agencies. The first one is the U.S. Marshal’s Service. This is an entity within the Justice Department. Their function is to protect judges, federal courts, and jurors (University of Minnesota, 2002).The are also involved in guarding federal prisoners from the moment of arrest to final conviction. Additionally, they launch investigations into violations of federal laws that touch on fugitives, ensure custody of property and money seized under existing federal law, and serve summonses issued by courts.
The second agency is the U.S. Customs Service. The function of customs inspectors is to check all baggage and cargo making their entry into the U.S. Special officers are trained to investigate violations of currency laws, smuggling attempts and cargo frauds (Castberg, 2002). There is a team of special customs patrol officers whose work is investigating customs violations, for instance, the inlet of contraband. This contraband includes unauthorized weapons and smuggled drugs that are often smuggled into the country through seaports, airports, and border crossings.The third agency is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). This agency is tasked with dealing with crimes related to alcohol, tobacco and firearms (University of Minnesota, 2002). The members of this agency work in conjunction with local and state police to investigate cases that involve law breaking in matters related to alcohol, tobacco and firearms. Federal laws that address drug trafficking are also enforced by this police agency.
The other agency is the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). This agency’s function is to administer naturalization and immigration laws (University of Minnesota, 2002). They are divided into teams referred to as border patrol agencies. Their work is to patrol the country’s land and coastal boundaries. Whenever any alien residing or entering in the country is discovered, the NIS takes up the responsibility of putting them under their custody and arranging for their deportation.
The other two agencies that fall under the federal policing level are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The Drug Enforcement Agency’s function is to enforce all federal ‘laws touching on narcotics and dangerous drugs. Elsewhere, the task of the FBI is to investigate a wide category of federal crimes (around two hundred in total). The FBI also offer assistance to local, state, and other federal agencies in examining the humongous number of fingerprint files and other citizens’ records (University of Minnesota, 2002) that are useful for solving crimes.
References
Castberg, A. (2002, January 1). The Effective Administration OF Police and Prosecution in THE United States. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/RS_No60/No60_15VE_Didrick.pdf
Cordner, G., & Scarborough, K. (2010, January 1). Information Sharing: Exploring the Intersection of Policing with National and Military Intelligence. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=6.1.5
Ebbe, O. (2013). Comparative and international criminal justice systems policing, judiciary, and corrections (Third ed.). Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
