USA Police System
policing in America id conducted by hundreds of thousands of individuals employed by thousands of distinct
agencies and organizations. This staggering array of police is one of the reasons it is so difficult to define what is
meant by the word police. There are public and private police ,large and small organizations, general and federal
agencies and agencies. Policing in America is a large , diverse and Complex topic.
Our primary focus in this book will upon general-purpose, municipal police agencies and their officers. These are
the police we typically encounter in our daily lives, and they are the most numerous of all the various police in
America. But we will also periodically examine other types of police such as federal agents, transit authority and
state police, and highway patrols. We will review the full range of police activities in our attempt to understand
police in America.
Types of Police System
The types of structures of U.S police organizations are discussed further in this handbook, but for now it is
necessary to briefly describe them as a prelude to our continued overview in this discussion. Unlike most other
nations of the world, the United States does not have a national police force. Rather, in keeping with our beliefs in
federalism and local needs and pressures. This evolutionary process has produced a uniquely American structure
that includes municipal, state, federal and police agencies.
1. Municipal Police
the majority of American police Agencies are operated at the municipal, or local, level. These agencies include
village, township, city, and country police departments, sherrifs’ departments and variety of special-purpose
agencies like transit authority and housing authority police. These police departments employ the most officers.
They have a wide range of size, from department consisting of one officer to departments having thousands of
personnel. Police in these municipalities typically have general poling duties for their respective jurisdictions.
TYPES OF LOCAL POLICE
Municipal and local agencies includes those with relatively small geographic limits as well
as those responsible for policing large areas. Although some city police agencies have
jurisdiction over the large areas – for example, the Houston Police Department serves an
area over 564 square miles-the average local police agency serves as much smaller area.
The country sheriff’s office- one of the Local Police Agency however, routinely has
jurisdiction over large areas. As descendant of the English shire reeve, the American
sheriff is charged with the operation of a country jail, civil functions such as service of
eviction notices and other court orders, and police responsibility.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated that 3,080 sheriff’s agencies existed in America,
ranging in sized from those employing less than five sworn officers to a dozen agencies
having 1,000 or more officers.
It is common for the sheriff’s department (commonly called deputies) to provide routine
police service to the unincorporated areas within the country. Thus, each incorporated
city, village or township in the country might have it’s own police, with the sheriff’s
deputies patrolling and serving residents in the unincorporated areas between them.
VARIETIES OF LOCALPOLICING
LEGALISTICS STYLE
- officers in a legalistic agency intervene frequently and formally with citizens.
That is, employees of legalistic-style agency rely upon the formal criminal law as a
definition of not only what situations merit their attention but in what manner they
should intervene . A legalistic police department is characterized by officers who issue
many citations and make many arrest. The kind of citizen complaint to the criminal Law.
SERVICE STYLE
- officers in agencies displaying a service style also intervene frequently in the
lives of citizens, but they do so informally. Thus, the service-styles police agency is
characterized by many police-citizen contracts but relatively few citations and arrests.
The officers in a service-style department treat every citizen complaint as requiring a
police response; they do not rely on the criminal code to define police issues. As the
label suggest, these agencies stress the service delivery functions of policing.
WATCHMAN STYLE
- unlike officers in the legalistic and service styles, officers in watchman-styles,
officers in watchman –style agencies do not intervene frequently with citizens. While
officers in all three styles of agencies are characterized be fewer officer-initiated
contracts with citizens these officers exercise considerable discretion in defining
whether a situation requires police response and what response should be. Watchman-
style agencies emphasize the peacekeeping function of policing.
A COMPARISON OF STYLES
- to indicate how these three styles result in different action by the police officers
involved, consider three situations:
* The officer observes a motorist travelling at 40 miles per hour in 30 mile-per-hour speed
zone.
* The police respond to a citizen complaint about an automobile that is illegally in front of
a home.
• A storekeeper calls police to report a robbery.
State Police
-like other counterparts, state police organizations emerged in reaction to
perceived limitations of local policing. Throughout the nineteenth century, most law
enforcement and order maintenance was left to local communities. With only a few
exceptions, state governments did not operate police forces because there was no need
for them. This situation began to change, however, near the turn of the century.
HIGHWAY PATROL
-typically are charged with the regulation of traffic and enforcement of traffic
regulations on interstate and state highways.
State police have general-purpose policing mandate. Nevertheless, both highway and state
police are typically authorized to enforce all state laws and assist local law-enforcement
agencies upon request.
Pros and Cons of Federal and Policing
likely any organizations or social institution, federal and state
police in America have both strengths and weaknesses.
what constitutes a strength or weakness, of course, depends in part
on the views held by those making judgments, but in general they can
be summed into two words-size and scope. State and federal policing,
as their jurisdiction. These agencies typically draw personnel from a
broader pool of national or statewide applicants, are funded by a larger
( and usually richer) tax base, and thus both afford and find better.
Federal Police
At national level, the federal government operates a number of police
agencies. Most of these have limited responsibilities and do not provide
general police services to citizens. The Federal Bureau of Investigations
(FBI) is an example. The FBI investigates violations of federal law, such as
robberies of federally insured financial institutions. It also manages national
crime data, operates a national academy for police administrator training,
provides a variety of other assistance to state local police.
TWO BASIC FORMS IN WHICH PRIVATE POLICING IS PROVIDED:
PROPRIETY SECURITY- the principal, or persons wishing to receive
service, hires security personnel directly.
CONTRACT SECURITY- the principal rents services from an independent
security company.
Private Security Three Basic Functions
Physical Police Functions -it involves the protection of people
and property can be seen in the use of security officers at the
entrance ways to factories and construction sites or at ticket
counters at attractions.
Information Security- involves attempts to prevent industrial
espionage activities and often is accomplished through
preventive means.
Personal Security – Includes the protection of workers and
executives from terrorists, demonstrators or others who pose
a threat.
THE THREE FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL POLICE :
• Service delivery
• Law Enforcement
• Order maintenance
Service Delivery- many people consider the police to be
the “agency of the resort” this is because the police are
always available to citizens, only a telephone call away.
Reason why citizen always call the police:
1. Police are always available to the public.
2. They have the authority to take charge and will
usually do something about most problems.
3. They are only a telephone call away.
The service duties of the police include helping stranded
motorist, giving directions, locating missing children,
checking residences for absent owners, providing first aid
and transportation for the ill and injured, and variety of
other tasks.
Law Enforcement- when we think of the police, we most
commonly consider them in terms of their law-
enforcement role as well as the portrayals of the police in
the entertainment and news media, descriptions of police
by elected officials, functions. The police are expressly
authorized and required to enforce the criminal law.
Whereas we may disagree over whether or not the police
should routinely be called to traffic accidents, nearly
every-one would agree that the police should be concerned
with an armed robbery, burglary, and other crimes.
Order Maintenance-also called “peacekeeping”, in
descriptive term, the police establish the balance
between freedom and order. They serve to define the
limits of individual liberty caused by the need for
predictability in society. Order maintenance involves
the absence of disorder and is achieved by preventing
or setting conflicts in peaceable manner. In other
words, the police maintain order in two basic ways: by
preventing disorder and restoring order when it has
been disrupted.
