The United States Government has developed what is referred to as the criminal justice system. This system is broken into multi-tier organizations and agencies; though while similar in terms of goals the systems are separate. There are three main systems within the tiered system: Local, State, and Federal. These systems operate in a similar manner, but remain as three separate entities. Each agency relies heavily on their ability to be organized and maintain effective administration in order to operate in a successful manner. The American criminal justice system takes consideration on past trends in order to evolve with future policing.
Law enforcement systems are fragmented and determined primarily by geography, politics, regional customs, and specific organizational structures. The United States policing system derives from historic English policing where cities and towns grew out of an early reliance on bailiffs, or watchmen. In 1829, Sir Robert Peel also known as the "father" became the creator of the world's first modern police force, the London Metropolitan America. The London police introduced the basis for modern police: mission, strategy, and organizational structure. The mission was crime prevention rather than post-crime detection and punishment. Officers would be visible throughout the community by patrolling fixed beats. The new police wore uniforms, state employees, and guidelines were set to improve the community relations and professional behavior. Officers became known as Bobbies after their founder as the central law enforcement figures. The Modern American policing consists of three eras, the Political Era, the Reform Era, and the Community Era, each possessing personal policing style of watchman, legalistic, and service (Walker & Katz, 2008).
[...] The new police wore uniforms, state employees, and guidelines were set to improve the community relations and professional behavior. Officers became known as Bobbies after their founder as the central law enforcement figures. The Modern American policing consists of three eras, the Political Era, the Reform Era, and the Community Era, each possessing personal policing style of watchman, legalistic, and service (Walker & Katz, 2008). Watchman The Political Era 1840s-1930s, was the watchman style of policing that focused on order maintenance rather than letter of the law enforcement. [...]
[...] These laws are in place to protect the public and provide the police officers the necessary tools and resources to combat crime effectively while making sure the communities remain secure and free of crime. According to Modern Policing (2011), one part of the operation policing system is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) that regards the way in which police conduct their arrests, evidence gathering, and charges. The PACE lays out the guidelines to be utilized when police officers are making an arrest, searching for evidence and prosecuting alleged criminals. [...]
[...] Wilson went on to write two leading textbooks, The International City Management Association's Municipal Police Administration, and Police Administration. His primary contribution to police administration was his effective methods of managing personnel, and his formula for the distribution of patrol officers based on crime patterns and service calls. Both the work of August Vollmer and O.M. Wilson helped improve professionalism within law enforcement, but during this time, and continuing on into the 1960's, little was done to improve relations with minority communities or put a damper on racism (Walker & Katz, 2008). [...]
[...] However, when dealing with modern policing, forensics is not a very helpful part of police investigations because this part of the police work has to be carried out on a scientific level. In addition, forensics can be thrown out at any given time in the court of law; therefore it is up to the police officer to make sure they handled the situation to their best ability to provide the most accurate information and data to have a successful prosecution. [...]
[...] The administrative units do not perform direct activities that affect public. The administrative unit includes budget and finance, clerical employees, and internal affairs; these units affect the police department, rather than the public. Operations, organizational methodology, and an administrative unit are the three key elements to an effective law enforcement agency. Without these three key elements an agency would run over budget, be under staffed, and be unproductive. References Grant, H.B. & Terry, K.J. (2008). Law enforcement in the 21st century (2nd ed.). [...]
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