History and Structure of Law Enforcement Briefly describe the jurisdictional limitations of American law enforcement. Trace the origins of American law enforcement. Describe the structure of American law enforcement.

Structure of American Law Enforcement The US has almost 18,000 public law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels of government. The authority of each agency is carefully limited by the law (jurisdiction). Although, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers at the federal, state, county, and municipal levels protect life and property and serve the public; they are employed by government, and/or private enterprises and their responsibilities are specific and sometimes unique to the kind of organization that employees them.

Structure of Law Enforcement Law enforcement in America is fragmented, locally controlled, limited in authority, and structurally and functionally different. Virtually no two police agencies in America are structured alike or function in the same way. These differences lead to the following generalizations: The quality of police services varies greatly. There is no consensus on professional standards. Expenditures vary greatly among communities. Obtaining services from the appropriate agency is confusing.

Municipal Police Departments If a person knows a law enforcement agent at all, its probably a local police officer. Common Statistics of Municipal Departments: Most employ fewer than 50 officers. Most police officers are white males. At least 83 % of departments require only a high school diploma.

Local Police Duties 4 categories of local police duties: 1. Law Enforcement - investigating a burglary, arresting a car thief, serving a warrant … 2. Service – taking people to the hospital, escorting a funeral … 3. Peacekeeping – breaking up a fight, holding back a crowd at a sporting event … 4. Information Gathering – investigating a missing child, reporting on dangerous road conditions

PEPPAS Many academies teach recruits the duties through PEPPAS: P – protect life and property E – enforce the law P – prevent crime P – preserve the police A – arrest violators S – serve the public

Organization of Police Forces How a police agency is structured depends on the size of the agency, degree of specialization, the philosophy the leadership has chosen, the political context of the department, & the history and preferences of a particular community.   Police are organized militarily with regard to accountability, discipline, rank, dress, and decorum.

Political Context of Policing Police department of any size is part of a larger government entity. *Strong mayor-council: elected mayor appoints chief *Weak mayor-council: elected council appoints chief *City Manager: elected council appoints manager to hire chief *Commission: voters elect board one of which becomes chief Each form varies in the amount of control citizens have over municipality leaders, source of the executive authority of the chief of police, & the degree of insulation a chief has from interference by the executive head of the city. Chief Executives: chief of police, director of police and/or commissioner

County Law Enforcement A substantial portion of law enforcement work in the US is carried out by sheriffs’ departments. (18% of all law enforcement departments in the US) Most departments are small with fewer than 25 officers and most officers are white males (82.9%).   Sheriffs departments perform functions that range from investigation to supervision of sentenced offenders. They also perform many civil services for the court and provide courtroom security. Departments frequently operate the county jail. Most sheriffs are directly elected and depend on an elected board for their funding.

State Law Enforcement Filling the complement of law enforcement agencies in a particular state are one or more state law enforcement agencies. In 2000, 49 primary state law enforcement agencies had 87,028 employees. Hawaii has no state police agency and California Highway Patrol is the largest state law enforcement agency.

Models of State Law Enforcement State police model: Agency and its officers have essentially the same enforcement powers as local police in the state (Texas Rangers). Highway Patrol Model: Officers focus almost exclusively on highway traffic safety and other state law enforcement agencies have more narrow service mandates, for example: Bureaus of Criminal Investigation State Criminal Identification Services Forrest, game, and watercraft protection services Alcoholic beverage control and enforcement Crime laboratory and criminalist services Driver’s License examinations Drug Interdiction Activities Peace officer training and certification

Problems between local and state Some tension always seems to exist between state police agencies and local law enforcement over legal jurisdiction and recognition for conducting investigations and making arrests.

Federal Law Enforcement Everyone has heard of a few better-known federal law enforcement agencies. Three major differences exist between federal law enforcement and state/local agencies: Federal agencies operate across the entire nation. Federal police agencies do not have peacekeeping or order maintenance duties. Some federal law enforcement agencies have extremely narrow jurisdictions.

Federal Law Enforcement Stats June 2002, federal agencies employed about 93,000 full time personnel 60 % were employed by the four largest agencies: Immigration and Nationalization, Federal Bureau of Prisons, US Customs, and FBI Annual Budget of $18 billion in 2000 85% were men and 15% were women, IRD employed the largest number of women 17% were Hispanic, 12% were Black, 2.5% were Asian, 1.2% were American Indian (Immigration and Naturalization had the largest minority percentages)

FLETC Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is the largest law enforcement training establishment in the United States. It provides some or all of the training for a majority of federal law enforcement agencies. First opened in DC in 1970 … now its in Glenco, Georgia; Artesia, New Mexico; Charleston, South Carolina; and Cheltenham, Maryland Classroom Instruction ranges from about 8 to 22 weeks for criminal investigators and from 4 to 26 weeks for patrol officers. Field training requirements range from 2 weeks to 6 months for patrol and up to 2 years for investigators.