Policing Functions Paper
Policing Functions
ReshaHarris
Criminal Justice 394
August, 22, 2012
Warren, Wyatt
Policing Functions
The functions of police work are highly complex and filled with numerous unpredictable challenges. Officers must place his or her safety and their lives at risk every day in the interests of maintaining order, protecting the public and apprehending law-breakers. The result is an occupation filled with stressors, pressures and dangers. American law enforcement remains a sector composed of many interdependent and overlapping agencies. Therefore, at local, state, and federal level, responsibilities generally divided among these different types of policing agencies even as interaction between them remains high.
Local Policing
The
functions of local or municipal policing remain highly contingent upon the type of community within which police operate. The experience of policing will be considerably different for the officer working in a small rural town than it will be for the officer who is part of a min-station in a larger urban center. At the root of it, their functions are essentially the same. Police officers will remain charged with the basic duties of monitoring and maintaining traffic, order collecting municipal revenues through the distribution of violation citations, apprehending those in the act or criminality or locating those suspected of committing crimes under investigation. Therefore, the frequency, and proportion of these functions will vary a great deal based on the demographic, geographical, and civilian characteristics of the locality.Paticlularly for those localities, which are more populous, the pressure, and peril associated with these functions is likely to be greater. As the text by Kappeler and Gaines (2009) indicates, “fear of crime is to be found among distinct populations and activities, that this is best measure of police productivity; and that solutions to social problems should be enforcement-based. People are to interpret the causes of police-represented problems as stemming from local disorder, the circulation of drugs, violent gangs, unsupervised youths, and community outsiders”(Kappeler and Gaines).
State Policing
The focus of officers at the state level will typically be less interactive and familiar at the community level and will therefore more generally dedicate the majority of its functionality to enforcement. Perhaps the most visible example of this remains seen in the area of traffic enforcement. State Trooper forces will most often focus their operations on areas owned and maintained by the state. This will include regional and interstate highways and will function as a backup source for resources and manpower in the face of expanding community challenges or matters of statewide or multi-state concern. These functions align with what Gaines and Kappeler (2011) identify as the original intention of the evolving state police agency.
ReshaHarris
Criminal Justice 394
August, 22, 2012
Warren, Wyatt
Policing Functions
The functions of police work are highly complex and filled with numerous unpredictable challenges. Officers must place his or her safety and their lives at risk every day in the interests of maintaining order, protecting the public and apprehending law-breakers. The result is an occupation filled with stressors, pressures and dangers. American law enforcement remains a sector composed of many interdependent and overlapping agencies. Therefore, at local, state, and federal level, responsibilities generally divided among these different types of policing agencies even as interaction between them remains high.
Local Policing
The
functions of local or municipal policing remain highly contingent upon the type of community within which police operate. The experience of policing will be considerably different for the officer working in a small rural town than it will be for the officer who is part of a min-station in a larger urban center. At the root of it, their functions are essentially the same. Police officers will remain charged with the basic duties of monitoring and maintaining traffic, order collecting municipal revenues through the distribution of violation citations, apprehending those in the act or criminality or locating those suspected of committing crimes under investigation. Therefore, the frequency, and proportion of these functions will vary a great deal based on the demographic, geographical, and civilian characteristics of the locality.Paticlularly for those localities, which are more populous, the pressure, and peril associated with these functions is likely to be greater. As the text by Kappeler and Gaines (2009) indicates, “fear of crime is to be found among distinct populations and activities, that this is best measure of police productivity; and that solutions to social problems should be enforcement-based. People are to interpret the causes of police-represented problems as stemming from local disorder, the circulation of drugs, violent gangs, unsupervised youths, and community outsiders”(Kappeler and Gaines).
State Policing
The focus of officers at the state level will typically be less interactive and familiar at the community level and will therefore more generally dedicate the majority of its functionality to enforcement. Perhaps the most visible example of this remains seen in the area of traffic enforcement. State Trooper forces will most often focus their operations on areas owned and maintained by the state. This will include regional and interstate highways and will function as a backup source for resources and manpower in the face of expanding community challenges or matters of statewide or multi-state concern. These functions align with what Gaines and Kappeler (2011) identify as the original intention of the evolving state police agency.