Police Department Roles and Functions

Law enforcement officers are a part of our communities to protect and serve us from danger and to apprehend criminals that disobey the law. It is their job to apprehend criminals and respond to calls from the people. Most enforcement officers have to stay in their designated areas, or jurisdiction, and respond to any calls or monitor the area. They are there to catch any

Police officers often employ various methods and strategies not only to combat criminal activities but also to ensure that the public is safe. These strategies entail beyond response to calls as a traditional method in the provision of service. In fact, they usually aim at crime intervention, prevention, as well as, effectiveness through the mechanisms such as efficient distribution of resources, community outreach, collection of criminal data, mapping of crime and location of suspect (Scaramella, Cox & McCamey, 2011). These police officers also put their life at risk to protect the citizens of America.

Since the beginning years of American history and basically every other country has been kept safe by the police or police type department. In the United States, there are three levels of law enforcement, there is the Federal level, the State level, and the Local level. The levels of law enforcement have various duties but most duties are very similar. Every day in the field is very different. The job can also be extremely stressful, and law enforcement professionals need specific training to succeed. A career in law enforcement is a secure job to have because crime never stops. What is law enforcement? It is a system where members of society perform in such manner to enforce laws by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing the members of society who violate the laws that protect society. In other words “The generic name for the activities of the agencies responsible for maintaining public order and enforcing the law, particularly the activities of prevention, detection, and investigation of crime and the apprehension of criminals” (BJS).

Law enforcement officers focus one preventing and investigating crimes and apprehending suspects. They also work with the courts to see that criminals are prosecuted.

Whether elected to their perspective office, or appointed by the mayor of the municipality, management of most local agencies is the responsibility of a Chief of Police. Along with the sworn officers within their agency, each chief has a staff of support personnel, which may include detectives, correctional personnel, dispatchers, and administrative personnel. Crime Prevention, community relations, community services, maintaining records, and internal affairs are just some of the support entities that may be found within the local agencies. If the municipality is large enough to support the budgetary requirements, the agency may also employ laboratory and forensic specialists, such as Crime Scene Investigators.

The nature of a police officer’s work entails many tasks passed down from police officers of superior rank. An ordinary day on the job can consist of checking parking meters, neighborhood patrol, traffic over-watch, investigations, etc. Police officers also have to be prepared to take control of situations that they may encounter on the street without superior authority/supervision. This means that these officers are specially trained to alleviate all types of situations that they might come along. It is also not surprising for a police officer to receive a special task while on duty to go to another area for another assignment. A police officer’s sole duty and responsibility is to serve and protect. They’re job is to serve their community and protect us from any type of harm. The types of harm can vary from helping out during times of natural disasters to giving out tickets to careless drivers. Remotely, their job is to protect us from any behavior or opportunities from crimes to bad-doings affecting our civilians.

According to Schmalleger, the mission of policing is enforced and support the laws of the society of which the police are a part, investigate crimes and apprehend offenders, prevent crime, help ensure domestic peace and tranquility and provide the community with needed enforcement -related service.

Policing agencies are incredibly responsible to the communities, counties, states, and nation to protect against crime and provide service to citizens. With this tremendous responsibility comes inherent scrutiny. The practices and operations of police agencies are under constant surveillance by the public as well as other policing agencies. To promote functionality police organizations are departmentalized to enhance efficiency and improve communication. Relationships within these organizational structures exist. Partnerships are developed between the community and policing agencies to increase crime reduction and improve order maintenance. The organizational structure of policing agencies will be

To begin studying this topic I’d like to provide a brief definition of a patrol officer. In law enforcement, patrol officers are uniformed police officers assigned to patrol specified geographic areas. They are the officers most commonly encountered by the public. Their duties include responding to calls for service, making arrests, resolving disputes, taking crime reports, and conducting traffic enforcement, and other crime prevention measures. The patrol officer is the first on the scene to arrive. What they do or fail to do at the scene can greatly influence the outcome of an investigation. The patrol officer, as the person daily in the field, is closest to potential crime and oftentimes

Law enforcement agencies range from local counties all the way up to state and federal levels. Communities are dependent of these agencies to conduct and perform many different roles and functions. All policing agencies perform the same basic duties and responsibilities, which are, maintain law and order, provide community assistance, and investigate crimes. There are agencies that function in a specific jurisdictions or provides a specialized function in a specific jurisdiction. All departments work together to protect citizens, prevent

In the United States of America, the police have functions and specific units to coordinate those functions. The role of the police has become important throughout the years with the increase of crime. The police are responsible for enforcing criminal law, maintaining law and order, and investigating crimes. The law and the constitution is where one’s safety and liberty comes from, meaning that the police are the ones making the primary decisions involving the law while enforcing them.

Looking back to roughly around 3,000 B.C., the earliest recorded evidence of law enforcement careers had manifested themselves in Ancient Egypt, where the policemen were stationed to guard the pharaoh, his family, public places, as well as tombs. The first American branch of law enforcement was set up in Boston, Massachusetts around the 1600s. The way this all worked is the townspeople recruited were posted in certain areas throughout the city/town where they would patrol nightly. Law enforcement has progressed drastically since then. We now live in the twenty first century, where law enforcement officers have combined traditional methods and devices with new technological equipment and tactics. This allows the officers to operate at maximum efficiency.

The next subject to touch upon, is the job description of a police officer. The duties of an officer can vary greatly. In a smaller department, an officer may have to direct traffic, patrol, break up riots, escort a funeral procession, or issue a ticket for a violation of a law (Ferguson 144). In larger city departments, the work is more specialized. These departments are comprised of special work divisions. These divisions may include communications, firearms identification, criminal investigation, forensic science, accident prevention, fingerprint identification analysis, and administrative services (Ferguson 144). Also, in larger cities, a department will contain special units of work. These units include harbor patrol, the canine unit, vice, traffic and records control, and the rescue unit (Ferguson 144). In every department, there are specific positions to be filled. These positions include: chiefs, sergeants, captains, desk or booking officers, and many other positions.

Law enforcement agencies have relied upon criminologists, criminal analysts and the public, to further advance their initiative of reducing crime. A variety of law enforcement agencies have organized elite or special units within their agencies tailored specifically towards the reducing crime and enhancing the quality of life within their community. Certainly, the strategies law enforcement agencies utilize across the United States vary--significantly. During my research, I uncovered strategies which exhibited vast effectiveness while others fell short or simply not substantiated.

The United State police forces have tried several methods to ensure public safety, “from hotspots policing to order maintenance strategies”. However, citizens are remained dissatisfied with law enforcement authorities and their unsuccessful to reduce crime in their community.