Policing in the United States
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Policing in the United States is one of three major components of the criminal justice system, along with courts and corrections. In theory each component is independent in function and objectives from the others, although the courts have legal oversight of both. Apart from maintaining order and service functions, the purpose of policing is the investigation of suspected criminal activity and the referral of the results of investigations and of suspected criminals to the courts. Law enforcement, to varying degrees at different levels of government and in different agencies, is also commonly charged with the responsibilities of deterring criminal activity and of preventing the successful commission of crimes in progress; the service and enforcement of warrants, writs and other orders of the courts; providing first response to emergencies and other threats to public safety; the protection of certain public facilities and infrastructure; the maintenance of public order; the protection of public officials; and the operation of some correctional facilities (usually at the local level).
In the United States, there are an estimated 17,784 law enforcement agencies, spread out across the federal, state, and local levels of government. Policing and law enforcement services are mainly the jurisdiction of local government, with an estimated 12,666 local police agencies and 3,070 sheriff's departments.[1] Local police include county police, metropolitan police, city, and town police departments. In addition, there are 1,376 special-purpose district police agencies, with jurisdiction over parks, schools, housing, transit, etc.[1]
[edit] Local policing
Local policing is usually conducted by the police departments at the county, township or municipal (city or village) level and ranging in size from one-officer agencies (sometimes still called the town marshal) to the 40,000 men and women of the New York City Police Department. Many individual cities and towns will have their own police department, with larger communities typically having larger departments with greater budgets, resources, and responsibilities. County sheriffs, county police, state police, and highway patrols enforce laws in their particular jurisdictions and are usually the only police in unincorporated areas beyond the jurisdiction of the cities. They also assist local police within their jurisdictions with investigations; can provide certain specialized services within their jurisdiction, such as criminalistics laboratories or a coroner; and may operate jails. Metropolitan departments, such as the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, have jurisdiction covering multiple communities and municipalities, often over a wide area typically coterminous with one or more cities or counties. Metropolitan departments have usually have been formed by a merger between local agencies, typically several local police departments and often the local sheriff's department or office, in efforts to provide greater efficiency by centralizing command and resources and to resolve jurisdictional problems, often in communities experiencing rapid population growth and urban sprawl. Some county sheriff's departments, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, are contracted to provide full police services to local cities within their counties. Special district police vary in their levels of authority. In some states, they serve as little more than security police, but in states such as California, special district forces are composed of fully-sworn peace officers with statewide authority. These include the Los Angeles School Police Department, which with a deployment of 525 sworn and non-sworn personnel covers 708 square miles from five police divisions and the Minneapolis Park Police Department, a much smaller unit with a deployment of 38 sworn police officers and 27 non-sworn Park Patrol agents.
[edit] Police functions
Textbooks and scholars have identified three primary police agency functions. The following is cited from The American System of Criminal Justice, by George F. Cole and Christopher E. Smith, 2004, 10th edition, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning:
- Order maintenance. This is the broad mandate to keep the peace or otherwise prevent behaviors which might disturb others. This can deal with things ranging from a barking dog to a fist-fight. By way of description, Cole and Smith note that police are usually called-on to "handle" these situations with discretion, rather than deal with them as strict violations of law, though of course their authority to deal with these situations are based in violations of law.
- Law enforcement. Those powers are typically used only in cases where the law has been violated and a suspect must be identified and apprehended. Most obvious instances include robbery, murder, or burglary. This is the popular notion of the main police function, but the frequency of such activity is dependent on geography and season.
- Service. Services may include rendering first aid, providing tourist information, guiding the disoriented, or acting as educators (on topics such as preventing drug use). Cole and Smith cited one study which showed 80% of all calls for police assistance did not involve crimes, but this may not be the case in all parts of the country. Because police agencies are traditionally available year-round, 24 hours a day, citizens call upon police departments not only in times of trouble, but also when just inconvenienced. As a result, police services may include roadside auto assistance, providing referrals to other agencies, finding lost pets or property, or checking locks on vacationers' homes.
[edit] Styles of Policing
Given the broad mandates of police work, and yet having limited resources, police administrators must develop policies to prioritize and focus their activities. Some of the more controversial policies restrict, or even forbid, high-speed vehicular pursuits.
Three styles of policing develop from a jurisdiction’s socioeconomic characteristics, government organization, and choice of police administrators. According to a study by James Q. Wilson (”Varieties of Police Behavior”, 1968, 1978, Harvard University Press), there were three distinct types of policing developed in his study of eight communities. Each style emphasized different police functions, and were linked to specific characteristics of the community the department served. (Wilson’s field of study was in the United States, and it is not clear if similar studies have been done for other countries with different governmental organization and laws.)
- Watchman. Emphasizes maintaining order, usually found in communities with a declining industrial base, and a blue-collar, mixed ethnic/racial population. This form of policing is implicitly less pro-active than other styles, and certain offenses may be “overlooked” on a variety of social, legal, and cultural grounds, as long as the public order is maintained. Smith and Cole comment the broad discretion exercised in this style of policing can result in charges of discrimination, when it appears police treatment of different groups results in the perception that some groups get better treatment than others;
- Legalistic. Emphasizes law enforcement and professionalsm. This is usually found in reform-minded cities, with mixed socioeconomic composition. Officers are expected to generate a large number of arrests and citations, and act as if there were a single community standard for conduct, rather than different standards for different groups. However, the fact that certain groups are more likely to have law enforcement contact means this strict enforcement of laws may seem overly harsh on certain groups;
- Service. Emphasizes the service functions of police work, usually found in suburban, middle-class communities where residents demand individual treatment. Police in homogenous communities can view their work as protecting their citizens against “outsiders”, with frequent but often-informal interventions against community members. The uniform make-up of the community means crimes are usually more obvious, and therefore less frequent, leaving police free to deal with service functions, and traffic control.
It should be noted that Wilson’s study applies to police behavior for the entire department, over time. At any given time, police officers may be acting in a watchman, service, or legalistic function by nature of what they’re doing at the time, or temperament, or mood. Individual officers may also be inclined to one style or another, regardless of supervisor or citizen demands.
[edit] Entry qualifications
Nearly all U.S. states have by law adopted minimum-standard standardized training requirements for all officers with powers of arrest within the state. Many standards apply to in-service training as well as entry-level training, particularly in the use of firearms, with periodic re-certification required. These standards often comply with standards promoted by the US Department of Justice. These standards typically require that potential police recruits:-
- be in good physical and psychological condition;
- maintain a clean criminal record without either serious or repeated misdemeanor or any felony convictions;
- not have a history of prior narcotic or repeated marijuana use or alcoholism;
- not have a history of ethical, professional, motor vehicle, or financial improprieties;
- not have a history of domestic violence or mental illness;
- be legally eligible to own and carry a firearm.
Repeated interviews, written tests, medical examinations, physical fitness tests, comprehensive background investigations, fingerprinting, a polygraph examination and consultation with a psychologist are common practices used to review the suitability of candidates. Recruiting in most departments is competitive, with more suitable and desirable candidates accepted over lesser ones, and failure to meet some minimum standards disqualifying a candidate entirely. Departments maintain records of past applicants under review, and refer to them in the case of either reapplication or requests from other agencies.
[edit] Federal police
Federal police fall into two broad categories:
- Investigative agencies (such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and,
- Uniformed security police agencies (such as the Federal Protective Service, United States Mint Police, United States Park Police and United States Border Patrol).
Both types operate at the highest level and are endowed with police or quasi-police roles. The investigative agencies have nationwide jurisdiction for enforcement of federal law, while the uniformed agencies have limited territorial jurisdictions. The FBI has the most general investigative powers, while the other federal agencies are highly specialized. All federal agencies are limited by the U.S. Code to investigating only matters that are explicitly within the power of the federal government. However, federal investigative powers have become very broad in practice, especially since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act.
At a crime or disaster scene affecting large numbers of people, multiple jurisdictions, or broad geographic areas, many different police agencies may be involved by mutual aid agreements. Usually the highest local agency having jurisdiction, or the highest federal law enforcement agency (the FBI), if a federal law was involved, will take command in such complex situations.
The federal government is prohibited from exercising general police powers due to restrictions in the constitution, due to the fact that the United States is organized as a union of sovereign states, which each retain their police, military and domestic law-making powers. (For eample, the State's National Guard is actually the state's military. Also, many states have a State Guard in additional to the National Guard.) The constitution gives the federal government the power to deal with foreign affairs and interstate affairs (affairs between the states). For policing, this means that if a domestic crime (such as murder) is committed in a state and the fugitive does not flee the state, the federal government has no jurisdiction. However, once the fugitive crosses a state line, he violates federal law of interstate flight and is subject to federal jurisdiction, at which time the FBI usually gets involved.
[edit] Police weapons
Police in the United States usually carry a handgun on duty. Many are required to be armed on-duty, and off-duty. Glocks, Smith & Wessons, Sig-Sauers, and Berettas are among the most common. Until the 1980s, most US police carried revolvers, typically in .38 Special or .357 Magnum calibers, as their primary duty weapons. Since then, most have switched to semiautomatic pistols. The most common caliber of American police duty weapons in 2006 is .40 S&W. 9mm Luger-chambered pistols are also common. .45 ACP pistols are permitted in some departments, and are commonly carried by SWAT and other specialized officers. Police also often carry an impact weapon - a baton, also known as a "nightstick". The common nightstick, usually a PR-24, has generally been replaced in law enforcement by expandable batons such as the ASP baton (as seen here and here). These batons are used because the wearer can comfortably sit in a patrol vehicle with these types of batons still on their duty belt. The night stick usually has to be removed before entering the vehicle. Some police departments allow qualified officers to carry shotguns and/or semiautomatic rifles in their vehicles for additional firepower. Many departments also use less-lethal weapons like Mace, pepper spray, electroshock guns, and beanbag shotgun rounds.
Most large police departments have elite SWAT units which are called in to handle situations, such as barricaded suspects, hostage situations and high-risk warrant service, that require greater force, specialized equipment, and special tactics. These units usually have submachineguns, automatic carbines or rifles, semiautomatic combat shotguns, sniper rifles, gas, smoke and flashbang grenades, and other specialized weapons and equipment at their disposal. A few departments have an armored vehicle for especially dangerous work.
Uniformed police officers are often issued body armor, typically in the form of a lightweight Level IIA or IIIA vest that can be worn under service shirts. SWAT teams typically wear heavier Level IIIA or III tactical armored vests, often with steel or ceramic trauma plates, comparable to those worn by US military personnel engaged in ground operations. Officers trained in bomb disposal wear specialized heavy protective armor designed to protect them from the effects of an explosion when working around live ordnance.
[edit] Police vehicles
- See also: Police vehicles in the United States
To efficiently cover the sprawling layout of the typical American city and the large distances of rural areas, nearly all American police departments use motorized patrol as their first responder component, using specialized cars, such as the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor or Chevrolet Impala 9C1, called "cruisers", "units", "patrol cars", "prowl cars", "squads" or "squad cars", or in the New York City Police Department Radio Motor Patrols (RMPs). In major urban areas, officers often patrol in pairs for mutual support in high-risk situations. High-speed car chases are common in certain areas of the United States, so police officers are usually trained in high-speed driving techniques and the PIT maneuver. The traffic divisions of many local police departments and many state police agencies make extensive use of motorcycles as well, which have the advantage of being able to maneuver more easily through dense traffic. Horses are still used, mainly in crowd control situations in major urban centers, but in remote areas occasionally for patrol or search and rescue. In some areas where there is heavy pedestrian traffic or limited rights-of-way for motor vehicles, officers also may patrol on bicycles.
Local departments in large cities and state police agencies usually have access to aircraft as well. Helicopters are often used to provide air reconnaissance of searches, pursuits, felony stops, warrant raids, or other circumstances in which an airborne observer is useful. They also may be used in some circumstances for the deployment of specialized officers, such as SWAT teams. State police agencies and drug-enforcement agencies may make use of fixed-wing aircraft as well, for monitoring traffic on highways or for drug surveillance respectively.
[edit] Police communications
Most American police departments are dispatched from a centralized communications center, using VHF or UHF radio transceivers mounted in their vehicles, with individual officers carrying portable handsets or ear-worn headsets for communication when away from their vehicles. American police cars are also increasingly equipped with portable computers linked by radio to a network allowing them access to state department of motor vehicles information, criminal records, and other important information.
Most Police Communications are now conducted within a regional pool of area 911 operators using 911 and 911 telephone taxation. A large number of police agencies have pooled their 911 tax resources for Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) to streamline dispatching and report.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Law Enforcement Statistics. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2003).
