Since the beginning years of American history and basically every other country has been kept safe by the police or police type department. In the United States, there are three levels of law enforcement, there is the Federal level, the State level, and the Local level. The levels of law enforcement have various duties but most duties are very similar. Every day in the field is very different. The job can also be extremely stressful, and law enforcement professionals need specific training to succeed. A career in law enforcement is a secure job to have because crime never stops. What is law enforcement? It is a system where members of society perform in such manner to enforce laws by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing the members of society who violate the laws that protect society. In other words “The generic name for the activities of the agencies responsible for maintaining public order and enforcing the law, particularly the activities of prevention, detection, and investigation of crime and the apprehension of criminals” (BJS).
Quick History In April of 1635, the City of Boston established the first system of law enforcement in the 13 colonies. They were called the “Night Watch”, the officers worked part-time with no pay. It was until 1712 when the City of Boston hired its first paid full time law enforcement officer in the 13 colonies. On September 24, 1789 “the United States Congress created the first Federal law enforcement officer, the United
In the United States, there are city, county, state, and national police forces. They have very difficult and dangerous responsibilities. These public servants are required to perform many different jobs. They enforce laws and maintain order. They teach people how to help prevent crime and to protect themselves ( Mittleman, 2000). They offer assistance and take charge of many different situations such as car accidents, flooding, and hurricanes. Police
In the field of policing there are a couple different paths for an individual to choose from and they include private security and public policing. State government, city government, and towns normally provide the community with a public police force to enforce the laws and protect the citizens. Police officers are very important within a community but sometimes a private security can come in and help out and this frees up time for the public policing. Private security personnel generally work for a private company that handles their own dispatching, training and recruiting. Private security functions include loss-prevention duties or protective services that would not be
Law enforcement officers are a part of our communities to protect and serve us from danger and to apprehend criminals that disobey the law. It is their job to apprehend criminals and respond to calls from the people. Most enforcement officers have to stay in their designated areas, or jurisdiction, and respond to any calls or monitor the area. They are there to catch any
The different career types of law enforcement career options may have similarities or be quite different depending on whether the work involves federal, state, or local agency. The differences at local state and federal levels includes: benefits, jurisdictions, pay structure, job responsibilities, travel requirements, and career advancement opportunities among others. The similarities include power to make arrests without warrant for some crimes; they all carry firearms and are trained in similar law enforcement skills. Most of them have the same form of military structure. They also all risk their lives to ensure the law is enforced. According to Scheb&Scheb (2011), “there are different roles played by legislatures, courts, and federal enforcement agencies at the federal, state, and local levels of government”.
Law enforcement is a career that is both violent and rewarding in many capacities. Justice needs to be served in law enforcement and they have a responsibility to uphold the law and serve the people in the community. Law enforcement is crucial in the world today as a global realm as life continues to be more complex and law enforcement struggles to combat many aspects of crime. In order to combat these problems and have a positive future in the criminal justice system, everyone must work together on a bigger scale.
The role of police officers is very significant to American history. Police work toward protecting citizens’ rights and helping America become the land of the free. The United States of America is built from the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights and police play a major role in making sure American rights are met. Evolution has changed many of American history for the better; policing is part of those changes. As new issues in society arise, police must change and adapt to protect and serve the public.
In the United States, there are three levels of law enforcement; the lowest level is local law enforcement agencies that include local police as well as sheriff departments. The next echelon in the chain is the State agencies that include state or highway patrol, the top tier is the Federal Agencies that not only include the FBI, but also the Secret Service as well. Each one of these agencies consequently has a unique extensive past.
Introduction--London Metropolitan Police was the first police agency and was developed in 1829. The first police agencies in the United States were in Boston (1838), New York (1844); and Philadelphia (1854). Criminal justice system was first recognized in 1919, by the Chicago crime commission.
Police Officer, also commonly known as policewoman, police agent, or police employee is a warranted law employee of a police force by definition. Their main duties are to protect and serve the United States. They keep their streets safe and enforce the rules to keep our country under control. Police officers work under a department or a city. The ranks that police officers can be very between places. In a city the ranks can be; Chief of Police, Deputy or assistant chief, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Commander, Major, Captain, Lieutenant, inspector, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant, Corporal, Master police officer, police officer, Trooper, Detective, Recruit, Cadet, Trainee, or Probationary officer. Frank's can be skipped or emitted and structure is often determined by individual municipalities. State and local law enforcement agencies employed more than 1.1 million people on a full-time basis including about 765,000 sworn personnel back in 2008. In 1838 the city of Boston established the first American Police Force followed by New York City and 1845 Albany New York and Chicago in 1851.
The Philadelphia Police Department is known to be one of the oldest police departments, dating back to 1854 when it was officially established by state law. The Philadelphia Police Department was initially created to prevent crime and detain criminals. After William Penn received the land known today as the city of Philadelphia, he wanted to assure there would be order within his land and thus appointed a sheriff. Starting as early as 1700, a Philadelphia ‘night watch’ was established to keep a watch throughout the city in order to be aware of any criminal activity going on throughout the night. In the early 1800s due to advancement in both watchmen numbers and payment capabilities, the watch was officially a twenty-four hour watch with hundreds
As cities grew more populated and diverse, law enforcement services changed to full-time police forces. The first American police force was created by the city of Boston in 1838, then New York City in 1845, Albany, NY and Chicago in 1851, New Orleans and Cincinnati in 1853, Philadelphia in 1855, and Newark, NJ and Baltimore in 1857 (Harring 1983, Lundman 1980; Lynch 1984). By the 1880s all major cities of the United States had municipal police forces in place. These police officers were bureaucratic, paid and supported by the public. Their departments had permanent fixed rules and procedures, and were under a central government
The principle role of police organizations is to uphold and enforce the law. Police organizations achieve this by safeguarding life and property, maintaining public order, and through detecting and preventing crime. Policing at the state level is composed of separate police organizations. At the state level we have the City or Local Police, County Sheriff and State Police, also known as Highway Patrol or State Troopers. The U.S. government gives each state the authority to self-govern so each state has its own Penal Codes and every state policing organization follows its own Penal Code. Policing at the Federal level is composed of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Secret Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Federal policing agencies oversee all federal laws.
Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our society. Of course the way they do this today had undergone changes from the first police forces of early America, law enforcement has seen trends come and go.
Small town Holdrege, Nebraska is where I decided to look a little further into law enforcement on the State level. There are quite a few State Troopers in this area, or it seems to be that way anyways. I contacted Sargent John Wagner for an interview. I have to say these men/women in uniform are slightly intimidating. I’m not sure if it is the uniform, or the fact I grew up thinking these officers of the law are just that scary. I guess we shall see once we begin the interview.
According to Victims of crimes, Law Enforcement is when officers take reports for crimes that happen in their areas, officers investigate crimes and gather and protect evidence, Law Enforcement officers may arrest offenders, give testimony during the court process, and conduct follow-up investigations if needed.