Abstract
As we observe American culture combines factors that contribute to crime and disorder. Widely varying beliefs and changing life-style mark the structure of this complex and competitive society. Extremes in ideas, emotions, and conduct are evident in the life of the people of the United States. Hence, the significance of Police becomes unavoidable.
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, include law enforcement that is the detection of crime, the prevention of crime, and the maintenance of order that is the resolution of disputes, among other tasks. In the United States, the police are the largest and most visible component of the criminal justice system.
As America has grown and policing has become correspondingly complex, the existing law enforcement system. Thus, this paper intends to analyze the administrative structure and organization of this department to find its consistency to the needs of a mechanized and metropolitan society.
Introduction and Overview
Policing administration is under continuous change. Some activities become obsolete whilst others are reformed. Criminal law is substantiated whenever it is possible. In some nations individuals responsible for policing activities are also given other responsibilities. They might have to work in the military, as church officials and any number of duties that may be assigned to them. Rome however is an exceptional case since being a part of the police force is an important job that serves as a modern entity. New problems keep coming up and this results in a need to change laws or at least it involves the development of newer methods.
The police force can be defined as agents that have the power to exert and dominate various institutions. (Police Administration 2006)
The above description implies that it’s something everyone needed to adopt; meaning a holistic approach was applied. It included the police in all states and regions regardless of whether it was the sheriff of some county or the FBI or even the police forces from the age of Hitler.
It is almost equivalent to political entities. The second factor included the fact that the system was meant for virtually everyone in the force; those who were best at what they did as well as those who were merely mediocre. Finally, it was easier to demarcate roles.
The question that needs to be considered is; who the police forces need to report to in matters about their conduct and how do they avoid exploiting the power that they already have. The fact that police agencies exist poses a problem in itself. The issue lies in the fact that the police are in a position to exploit their manifested powers. (Kathleen 2001)
The domain of health, safety, welfare, and morals are restricted by the state. Primarily courts use these set criteria to keep criminal laws within certain bounds whilst in other countries it is applied rather informally and the idea is not that even considered.
The scenario in the US concerning police power can be associated with a lack of clearly defined limits on aspects that can be controlled by police agents. No set boundary can tell us what the police are in a position to control and the activities they do not have the right to control.
In the case of serious offense cases, the involvement of six different forces is mandatory apart from the local police. The other entities involved are the state police and the FBI the crimes that cannot be dealt with by the local police are handled primarily by the FBI. The FBI is supposed to guide local forces and assist them to a greater degree. (Kathleen 2001)
U.S Police history
The US police agencies are focused more on a local scale as opposed to a national scale whereas in other industrialized nations the police force is more centralized. There are around 20,000 policing institutions scattered all over the US which is exclusive of federal specialized forces. These are looked after by the states, counties, and municipalities and each has its power base which has created a sense of fear amongst the locals. Because it is not centralized, many issues come under the wider perspectives that need to be countered. These problems include jurisdiction, information sharing, and also ideology. The main issue that is more or less acting as a hallmark in American society is the fear of power abuse. (Niederhoffer 2008)
With the advent of technology and revolution in the twentieth century, newer methods have been formulated to make policing more efficient and these newer techniques allowed the police to utilize their time in investigating, preventing crime, and other sophisticated tasks. Fingerprinting is just one of the activities. With the closing of the twentieth century, they became more concerned with problems that have bigger impacts for instance the problem of bombing and other terrorist-related atrocities. They are now specializing in drug heists and crimes that have become more popular in recent years such as hostage dealings. (Uchida 2008)
With the advent of technology and revolution in the twentieth century, newer methods have been formulated to make policing more efficient and these newer techniques allowed the police to utilize their time in investigating, preventing crime, and other sophisticated tasks. Fingerprinting is just one of the activities. With the closing of the twentieth century, they became more concerned with problems that have bigger impacts for instance the problem of bombing and other terrorist-related atrocities. They are now specializing in drug heists and crimes that have become more popular in recent years such as hostage dealings. (Uchida 2008)
Police Organization
Robert Peel’s metropolitan police force in London which was founded in 1829 was responsible for the development of the metropolitan police agencies in the US which before its reform was based more on military ideals. In Britain, the trend was more towards constables who watched the roads and streets and in return were paid for services rendered. In the US, however, there was no need at the time for full-time watch guards and the professionals were usually rendering services without any payment in return. It was more or less a loosely structured organization. In between the eighteenth century large cosmopolitan cities like Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Chicago began to develop full-time police forces. However. professionalism in this domain did not come until the twentieth century. differences in the organization of local police forces exist because they originated in different times with the help of local governance and funding by the respective communities. Generally speaking, city police are funded through the municipality and controlled by a police chief who is selected by the mayor. The state police have more responsibilities to shoulder and the local law enforcement agencies have numerous duties they must fulfill. (Hahn 2003)
The statistics of the department of justice’s bureau of justice statistics indicate that in 1996 there was 922,200 full-time local police personnel out of which 663.535 had the authority to arrest. 2001 stats indicate that there has been an increase of 1,000,000 in local law enforcement which further includes a rise in women and minority employment. Furthermore, stats indicate that in 1997 the requirement of training for local officers was 1100 hours and by the year 2000 about 37% of the local police agencies were required to attain at least college education. In the year 2000, there were 88.496 federal officers which accounted for about 31 for every 100.000 residents. The ratio was 1,397 federal officers for every 100.000 residents in Washington DC. The states with the largest number of federal officers are Texas, California, Washington DC, New York, and Florida.
Police Agencies in the Future
The police have tried to radicalize its ways and adopt modern methods to counter social problems that may exist in dealing with different ethnic as well as racial groups. The involvement of communities in the methods of policing has to an extent brought about changes in the system for the better of course. Social science to a great degree is assisting policing activities just as forensic science has. The police are increasingly working with the communities to reach a sort of common ground. Now more than ever the police forces are being educated about racial profiling and its negative impacts. (Alexander 2005)
Since new policies travel from the bottom to the top i.e. the policies are developed by local departments it takes a longer time for changes to be noticed. However, this will change as the local communities along with the collaboration of the federal agencies will develop a computerized data system at the national level to make gathering and sharing information easier and more accessible. (Alexander 2005)
Bittner is of the notion that the police should handle matters well before time as opposed to leaving it for later. They must be equipped to take action instantaneously and without any thought as part of policing is spontaneity. There could be different situations where they have to be quick in making decisions about their next steps. For instance serial killing, rising street crimes, and perhaps an arson case call for immediate reaction. They need to handle a lot of issues simultaneously and they must learn how to deal with issues as soon as possible. Besides, it is their duty since they have been given the right to this power and they need to utilize their time most efficiently. (Bittner 1967)
Conclusion
It is an accepted fact that the police use their power which is given to them as a right whilst from the sociological aspect that the police attain the obligation of enforcing the law because in doing so they will be appealing for their right to use compelling force.
Newer and more effective measures are being taken to counter the problems of crime with time. People do not trust the police which is a great setback since they do not share any information with them that might help them to solve the problems. However, one can be optimistic about the fact that things are looking less bleak now. Crime has been looked at from different perspectives by authors Bennett, Dilulio, and Walters. These writers are of the notion that crime can be talked about even if the root causes are not considered. They are of the view that it is disorganization and disorder that are the root cause of crime. When no one will care enough for the up-gradation of law and order it is only natural that it will deteriorate. This will lead to a situation where the law-abiding citizens will avoid coming out of their homes and those who victimize these law-abiding citizens will have full access to anything that they desire. The outcome will be a deteriorating law and order situation.
The nation is constantly under surveillance by homeland security. A memo that was sent by the homeland security office all over the nation instructed law enforcement personnel to observe every move to be in a position to prevent any kind of terrorist attack. The memo also instructed officers to beware of any individual expressing ideas against the US government. It went on to further say that people with rather pale faces or those whose beards seem to be recently shaved be also watched very closely
References
Alexander, Blair C.Strategies to Integrate America’s Local Police Agencies into Domestic Counterterrorism. Web.
Bittner, E. (1967). The Police on Skid-row: A Study of Peace Keeping. Web.
Hahn, Harlan D. (2003). Urban America and Its Police: From the Postcolonial Era through the Turbulent 1960s. University Press of Colorado. Web.
Kathleen, E. Joswick. (2001).A profile of police administration resources: using textbook citations to determine collecting parameters. Web.
Niederhoffer, A. (2008). Police. Encyclopedia Americana. Web.
Police Administration FY08. Web.
Uchida, C. D. (2008). Police. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Web.