Justice Department Police Essay Research Paper The

Justice Department Police Essay, Research Paper

The governmental department charged with the regulation and control of the affairs of a community, now chiefly the department

established to maintain order, enforce the law, and prevent and detect crime. The police are government agents charged with maintaining order and protecting persons

from unlawful acts. In most modern democratic nations the police provide a variety of services to the public, including: law enforcement (the detection of CRIME and the

apprehension and ARREST of criminals), the prevention of crime (preventive patrol), and the maintenance of order (resolution of disputes, among other tasks). In the

United States (and in many other countries around the world) the police are the largest and most visible component of the CRIMINAL JUSTICE system. History Most

developed societies have had some kind of law-enforcement agency. In the English-speaking world–and beyond–police practices are based on English models.

Beginning in colonial days, Americans have adopted the English criminal justice system, particularly the law-enforcement pattern. During the 17th and 18th centuries,

colonial America relied on the sheriff, the constable, and the night watch for police protection. The sheriff, appointed by the governor of a colony, was the most important

law-enforcement officer in the county. His duties included law enforcement, tax collection, and the maintenance of public facilities. The constable had similar

responsibilities, although his jurisdiction was limited to towns and cities. The night watch was charged with the responsibility of protecting the municipality from fires,

crime, and suspicious persons. By the mid-19th century the police system could no longer control the crime and disorder that had begun to appear in the cities. In

Boston, New York, and other large cities, riots occurred regularly and crime appeared to be increasing. As a result, new police forces were established. These new

police differed from the old in that the new officers worked both day and night, wore uniforms, carried firearms, and patrolled the streets in an attempt to prevent crime

and maintain order. During this period the patterns of basic, present-day urban police operations were set. The quality of the police was low in the late 19th and early

20th centuries. Inefficiency and corruption dominated police work. The primary source of the problems was the political machines that controlled most city governments

from 1890 to 1920. By the 1920s a campaign to “professionalize” the police began to emerge. With professionalization came demands for better selection of police

officers, centralization of commands, more technology for aiding crime prevention, and the elimination of politics from policing. These reforms slowly occurred during the

20th century. Agencies The U.S. police establishment operates at several levels. A number of federal law-enforcement units exist in different U.S. government agencies,

but the bulk of the work is carried out by nine units in four departments. The FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) is the largest and most important.

Other prominent federal units include those of the Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Naturalization Service, SECRET SERVICE, Internal Revenue Service,

and Customs Service. All states except one (Hawaii) have state-level police units with sworn personnel engaging in law-enforcement functions. These are classified as

state police (23 states) and state highway patrol (26 states). Highway patrols direct their efforts to highway, motor vehicle, and traffic-safety functions. State-police

authority includes jurisdiction over many types of criminal activity as well as traffic services. Virtually all of the nation’s 3,000 counties have their own police forces, with

most of these directed by an elected sheriff. Municipal police departments constitute the largest number of police agencies in the country. Nearly three-quarters of the

650,000 full-time police employees work for municipal agencies. There is an enormous variety of municipal policing because of the wide range in city types in a country

that stretches across a continent, in demands for police service, and in priorities of individual departments. The U.S. police system differs substantially from those of other

democratic nations. In European countries, Canada, and Japan police forces are highly centralized. Great Britain, for example, with a population of approximately 46

million people (about one-fifth that of the United States), has a total of 39 law enforcement agencies (compared to some 20,000 in the United States). The London

Metropolitan Police Department, with its headquarters at SCOTLAND YARD, is the largest agency in the country. In France and Italy national police forces exist to

enforce the law and maintain order. In France, two police forces exist: the Police Nationale (formerly the Surete Nationale) and the Gendarmerie Nationale. The Police

Nationale is responsible for law enforcement in cities with a population of 10,000 or more. The Gendarmerie shares the dual task of policing the military as well as

civilians in towns with less

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