Police Department Roles and Functions free essay sample

All departments work together to protect citizens, prevent crime, and solve crimes wealth their community. * What are the principal roles and functions of police organizations and their role as it applies to the law? * Local law enforcement protects citizens and maintains law and order within their assigned jurisdiction. Local law enforcement patrols communities to deter crimes through their visual presence. Law enforcement officers investigate crimes, gather evidence, and make arrests of offenders (Gabon Low, 1973). Local law enforcement can be broken down Into two different agencies, city police and Sheriff Departments.City police are responsible for conducting their roles and functions within city Limits or their assigned Jurisdiction through their established departments. Department responsibilities can include specific patrolling to deter crime with a deferent department with specific responsibilities to investigate crimes. * Sheriff Departments are tasked with policing the whole county Jurisdiction. The Sheriff Department conducts the same roles and function of local law enforcement departments. Sheriff Departments have what are called deputies that patrol county jurisdictions, investigators, and a coroner.Sheriff Departments are also responsible for operating county Jails. * State police have the role of ensuring safety of people with the entire state. State police agencies include highway patrol officers and investigation personnel. State police officers known, as highway patrol is responsible for policing state highways and Interstates. Their functions include making traffic stop violations to highway trafficking crimes (Scott, 2009). State police will Investigate rimes across Individual county lines where local Jurisdiction Is limited.The type of crime committed in the state will determine which agency within the state will take the lead. * Federal law enforcement agencies have authority and jurisdiction over the entire nation. Federal law enforcement is the responsibility of the Department of Justice with each agency responsibility for specific functions in order to keep the nation safe. For example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is tasked with responsible for combating drug related crimes, and U. S. Marshal are responsible for enforcing federal laws and security of federal courts (Department of Justice, 2012). Federal police typically do not patrol like local and state agencies do. * What are the various types of police agencies at the local, state, and federal level and the roles and functions of each? * * There are many various types of police agencies at the local, state, and federal levels with their roles and functions being different. Each agency handles policing responsibilities within their Jurisdiction. Federal levels of policing have authority to take action only on the federal level when federal laws are broken. State and local police agencies enforce the laws governed by the state within their Jurisdiction.When crimes on the state level cross state lines, federal agencies get involved. Example, if crimes are committed within the state, state agencies investigate and attempt to make arrests because it is their Jurisdiction. If someone commits a crime within a state and then flees to another state, the federal policing agencies can assist in seeking Justice. The Patriot Act has given authority to enforce federal laws for federal investigations at the state level. The result of these roles and functions allow or local, state, and federal agencies work to better police communities. * What are the roles and functions of patrol work?Provide a list. * Patrols serve many functions for police work. Some commonly used methods of patrol include: * Random Patrol * Directed Patrol * Aggressive Patrol * Saturated Patrol * Random Patrol consists of officers patrolling areas in a random way so that patterns cannot be detected. Random patrols are designed detect crimes taking place and to deter crimes from taking place due to officer patrol presence. Directed patrol is designed to target hot spots or areas known from high crime rates. Crime data is collected and it can be determined what areas and at what times crime is likely to occur.By patrolling at these times, crime can be deterred. Aggressive patrols consist of frequent traffic stops and questioning by officers to draw attention. The attention drawn by these actions can serve as a major deterrence of crime. A saturated patrol is effective by placing a large number of patrols within the same areas. The most common form of police patrolling is with an automobile (Grant Terry, 2012). Automobile patrols have an advantage because they can cover a large area faster than other means of patrol and have faster response times (Grant Terry, 2012).However, automobile patrol has limitations. Many times the officer in the car has limited visibility of what is taking place around them. The second most used method of patrolling is by foot. Foot patrols are good because they offer officers greater visibility of actions taking place around them. Officers conducting foot patrols are limited on the areas that they can cover. Bike patrols are used to cover areas that automobiles cannot access. Areas such as malls or bikes are great areas to use bike patrols. The least used method of patrol is horse patrols.