Law Enforcement in the USA - Research Paper Example

Law Enforcement in the USA Law enforcement in the USA requires the concerted efforts of different levels of government to achieve safety. There are four main law enforcement agencies in the USA including local, state, county, and federal law enforcement agencies providing law enforcement to the American citizens. Law enforcement is one part of the US criminal justice system together with corrections and courts. Law enforcement is a system whose members follow set guidelines in enforcing the law through discovery, deterrence, rehabilitation, and punishment of those who violate regulations prevailing in the society. This study aims at analyzing different aspects of law enforcement in the USA including comparing and contrasting different law enforcement agencies, highlighting eligibility requirements for entry-level positions in the law enforcement agencies, and discussing aspects of crime reduction strategies, and issues facing law enforcement. Local law enforcement agency: local law enforcement agencies derive their authority from the local government they are created from and include country, regional, tribal, municipal and regional police. The aims of local law enforcement agencies include the uploading laws in the jurisdiction they are created, undertaking patrol and investigation of local crimes. State law enforcement agency: the jurisdiction of state law enforcement agency cover a state and aid the local law enforcement agency in investigating crimes that extend beyond the jurisdiction and resources of the local law enforcement agency. Highway patrol and statewide investigations are undertaken by state law enforcement agency and undertake investigations covering several localities but within the state. Investigations within the state are conducted by state law enforcement agency, and when they surpass their jurisdiction through covering more than one state, they are undertaken by federal law enforcement. Inclusive of the state law enforcement agency are government department enforcement divisions including state hospitals, water, environment, capital, and campus police to ensure law enforcement in these departments and have statewide jurisdiction and full police powers. County law enforcement agency: they exist in metropolitan counties, and their jurisdiction covers the whole county. Three categories of county law enforcement agency service exist including full service that entails the provision of all police services to the entire county including contractual security to the county’s special districts. County, law enforcement agency, can provide restricted service entailing providing security to parks and facilities owned and operated by the county. Limited service by county law enforcement agency entails the provision of security to unincorporated county areas and on contract in incorporated areas. Federal law enforcement agency: they have nationwide jurisdiction and are tasked with maintaining law and order within this jurisdiction with their formation and power derived from the federal government. Federal law enforcement agency consists of two main branches including Department of Justice (DOJ) that is made up of Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), United States Marshals Service among others and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that also has numerous agencies. Federal law enforcement agencies provide support to state and local law enforcement agencies when needed and when the case in hand surpasses multiple state or local jurisdictions (Bumgarner, 2006). The differences in the four law enforcement agencies in the United States include the jurisdiction of the local law enforcement agency covering the smallest jurisdiction followed by state, then county, and the federal law enforcement agency having nationwide jurisdiction. The local law enforcement agency is involved in the running of correctional facilities which is not undertaken by the other law enforcement agencies forming the other difference. The other difference is that county law enforcement agency is only found in metropolitan counties with the other law enforcement agencies found in all other counties. The other difference is that state, county, and local law enforcement agencies cannot investigate crimes in multiple jurisdictions, but the federal law enforcement agency has jurisdiction in multiple jurisdictions. The other difference between the four law enforcement agencies is their sizes and area of jurisdiction with the federal law enforcing agency having the largest size and area while local law enforcement have the lowest. The similarities between the four law enforcement agencies in the USA include that all of them are aimed at ensuring security and safety of the citizens is maintained (McElreath et al., 2013). The other similarities between the law enforcement agencies are that they are all called upon to offer a first response in cases of emergencies and threats to public safety and the protection of public infrastructure and facilities. Protecting public officials and maintaining public order are the other similarities between the four law enforcement agencies. Another similarity between the four law enforcement agencies is the requirement for the applicants to be citizens of United States and willingness to work in any part of the jurisdiction of the law enforcement agency. Discuss eligibility requirements for entry-level positions in local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Local enforcement agencies require the applicants to meet certain qualifications for entry eligibility including being a US citizen and aged above 21 years on academy graduation. The applicants should also have high school diploma or its equivalent and have a valid driving license to be eligible to join the local enforcement agencies. The applicants should be able to pass physical and written exams that will be administered by the local law enforcement agencies. The applicants are also required to be  physically and mentally fit to perform optimally the duties of a local law enforcement agency including good eye vision, hearing, among other health requirements. Agility and physical ability tests have to be passed by the applicant after meeting all the above qualifications. State law enforcement agency applicants must be US citizens, aged 21 years on academy graduation, and no felony conviction. Applicants should also have a valid driving license, minimum fitness requirement tested via agility and physical ability tests, good mental health, and have a high school diploma/GED and 30 years college hours. Any physical condition that restricts the efficient performance of the duties of a state officer results in the disqualification of the applicant. Other requirements for state officer applicants include a willingness to work in any part of the state, have no criminal record or felonies, poor driving record, and improper conduct. Tattoos and other body modification have to be in accordance with the state police requirements as stated in the guidelines provided to the applicants. County law enforcement officer requirements include being a US citizen aged above 20 years and having a valid driving license. Having 60 college credits from an accredited college or university or high school education and six months military experience with an honorable discharge, and should be able to pass both physical and written examination with efficient reading abilities. Other requirements include passing drug screening and psychological evaluation, extensive background investigation, and polygraph exam. Willingness to work in any part of the county, good mental health, and work in rotating shifts are the other requirements for county officer applicants. Federal law enforcement requirements include being a citizen of the United States and willingness to work in any part of the nation. Federal agent recruits have to meet mental and physical health requirements to be in a position to work efficiently evaluated via tests conducted on recruitment. Other requirements include being over 21 years, complete background checks successfully and have a bachelor’s degree with one year experience. Completion of structured interviews and other assessments, having a good standing driving license, and should not exceed 37 years maximum requirement age. Drug screening and polygraph tests have to be successfully completed by the applicant to be eligible for the federal law enforcement agency job. There are several factors that make one disqualified to perform in law enforcement in the United States including felony and driving under the influence conviction. Other disqualifiers include financial problems/poor credit history, a sexual or domestic misdemeanor, poor driving record, and use of illegal drugs. Tattoos and other modifications that are prejudicial, racial, biased or not meeting requirements of the law enforcement agency will also result in the disqualification of the applicant. Discuss initial and continuing training. The initial training for applicants for inclusion in local law enforcement agency includes the completion of academy training by the local law enforcement agency. Tuition time is provided for officers to pursue their education goals including college and university education to aid in improving literacy levels of the police and augment performance efficiency. State officers receive academy training and those who have not attained 60 hours college hours have to achieve the college hours within two years. This is done through the provision of part-time education opportunities. County law enforcement officers go through academy training and after which are provided with incentive pay to pursue further education on a part-time basis. They are also provided with training occasionally to improve their ability to perform their duties well. Promotion to leadership positions also results in more training for leadership and management. Federal law enforcement officers have to undergo initial training in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). The main training programs offered at FLETC for federal officers include Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP), Uniformed Police Training Program (UPTP, and Land Management Police Training (LMTP). Additional training depends on specific agency to which the recruits will be working in for example new secret service agents have to undertake Special Agent Training Course for 18 weeks at Secret Service Training Academy in Washington following the FLETC training (Federal Law Enforcement, 2015). What are the major issues facing law enforcement? One of the issues affecting law enforcement is jurisdiction and command when more than one law enforcement agency is involved in a crime of disaster. Complexities emerge and at time differences between the law enforcement agencies affect the optimum dealing with a crime issue in a case where different law enforcement agencies fight for control and command. Owing to different needs, aims, and objectives of law enforcement agencies, sharing intelligence is not possible resulting in a lack of effective performance and implementation. Fight for control and superiority by the different law enforcement agencies also serves to reinforce this problem. The other important issue facing the police currently is recruitment, training, and retention of skilled personnel in different law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies lack adequate resources, time, and expertise to facilitate recruitment and retention efforts. Limited funding and cuts in spending is the other main issue affecting law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies have occasionally witnessed huge budget cuts that make it impossible for the law enforcement agencies to institute changes to allow for better efficiency and effectiveness in dealing with crime. These changes include providing officers with additional training and purchase of latest technology gadgets and forensics for use in crime prevention, detection, and solving. Budget cuts also affect the number and morale of law enforcement officers owing to lack of enough overtime payment, remuneration, and the employment of more officers to fill the deficit. The low economic state has resulted in high crime rates especially mortgage fraud affecting the police in terms of having to allocate more resources and personnel in dealing with increased crime rates (Eiserer, 2008). Preventing racial profiling is another issue that has long affected law enforcement agencies and is an issue that has seen negative publicity against law enforcement agencies. The frequency of racial profiling by the police is an issue that has to be dealt with in order to augment the image of law enforcement agencies in the public eye (Riley, 2014). There is a need to manage and prevent racial profiling in law enforcement agency through ensuring the law enforcement agencies are constituted of wider demographic to reduce chances of racial profiling. In addition to the issue of racial profiling, law enforcement agencies are faced with attacks on the use of excessive force in meeting low crime rates needs of the public. Law enforcement agencies have been criticized in many instances for using excessive force and have negatively impacted its relation with the public and reduce chances of the public volunteering information. Developing better relation between the public and the law enforcement agencies will only be improved when excessive force and racial profiling is reduced by the law enforcement agencies. Improvement of relations between law enforcement agencies and the public is the other issue faced by law enforcement agencies. Relations between security agencies and the community have not been the best owing to the high levels of police brutality and crimes against the public. The need to improve the relations through better communication, management of public information, and the reduction of the number of murder and violence against a member of the public perpetrated by the police. Immigration is the other issue that has affected the performance and efficiency of law enforcement agencies owing to many advocacy groups and the lack of effective laws guiding immigration. Law enforcement agencies have been the recipient of attacks from advocacy groups on immigration owing to the conflicting requirements for more security while managing immigration. Meeting these conflicting needs of ensuring immigrants are well treated while ensuring a secure nation is an issue to law enforcement agencies. Another issue faced by law enforcement agencies is the advanced nature of criminal activities in terms technology use and international or global nature of the crime. Technology development and the widespread access to the internet and mobile phones has complicated the fight against international crime and terrorism. Criminals have upped their use of technology and effectiveness managed to use the internet and phones to mastermind and undertake criminal activities. The limited resources channeled to law enforcement agencies is not enough to achieve effective levels of technology utilization in stopping, prevention, and solving of criminal activities. It is imperative that the technology accessed and used by law enforcement agencies be equal if not better to that used by criminals if the fight against terrorism and internal crime is to be won. Any issue facing law enforcement agencies is the increased levels of gun violence in America mainly drive by shootings and retaliatory attacks caused by high levels of illegal guns in circulation. The impact is the use of more than $2.3 billion in covering medical costs of which the taxpayers pay $1.1 billion, which is a huge amount and depicts the inability of the security agencies to deal effectively with crime (Mc Neil, 2015). What policing strategies work to reduce crime? There are policing strategies that will be effective in the reduction of crime as long as they are well implemented by law enforcement agencies and have the support of superiors in these law enforcement agencies. The need to institute better policing strategies is evident from the lack of cooperation between agencies and the issues noted in the previous section that negatively impact the effective performance of law enforcement agencies. First, law enforcement agencies have to be provided with more funding allocation and efficient checks and auditing undertaken to ensure optimal utilization of the funds. These funds will be important towards achieving reduced crime rates by the purchase of technologically advanced gadgets for the detection, monitoring, and prevention of crime among other duties. Increasing funding will also provide much-needed dollars for recruitment, training, and provision of motivation for well-skilled personnel to be retained in the law enforcement agencies. The intelligence and dedication of a more motivated workforce will be beneficial for achieving better crime prevention rates and lead to more efficient and better-managed police force. More funding will also allow law enforcement officers to be provided with computers with internet access to facilitate faster communication, tracking, and understanding of crime occurrence and prevention. Assessment of computer and internet footprints left by criminals is important in fighting crime augmenting the need to provide computer forensic support to law enforcement officers. Provision of forensic computers and training is a requirement for effectively dealing with crime by law enforcement agencies. The other strategy that will prove effective in meeting the aims of law enforcement agencies is tightening laws on gun control. The lapse of a federal ban on gun control has resulted in the increased presence and use of illegal guns in crime scenes further limiting the possibility of safety in the community (Eiserer, 2008). Passing laws aimed at offering better management of guns and gun control, mechanisms will aid in reducing the prevalence of illegal guns. The economic downturn has raised another issue in law enforcement owing to its impacts on crime rates. The reduction in the excessive use of force by the police in dealing with the public and crime suspects is an important factor in dealing with crime. The improvement of forensic science provision and effectiveness in law enforcement is the other strategy for improvement of success in law enforcement in the United States. There is a need to improve funding for forensic sciences services to be improved to allow for better crime detection and solving. It is also important that accreditation and certification of forensic science providers are done which also requires the use of the increased funding as a means to augment efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness. Establishment of standards and practices in law enforcement will also allow for better forensic science provision in law enforcement agencies. Another strategy that will enhance crime reduction efforts of law enforcement agencies is a partnership and continued understanding between law enforcement agencies regardless of superiority and power. Law enforcement agencies sharing of intelligence within short time and providing counterparts with enough time to act on the information to prevent or detect crime will enhance efforts at effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement agencies in fighting against crime. The federal government has to institute clear laws and guidelines on immigration and its impacts on security to allow law enforcement agencies to find optimal ground in meeting security and immigration needs. Discuss the relevance of police subculture, corruption, ethics, and mental and physical dangers. Several factors influence the effectiveness and efficiency in the performance of law enforcement agencies including police subculture, ethics, corruption, mental, and physical dangers. Police subculture entails the beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors among most of the officers in police organizations (Cole et al., 2015). Police subculture is an important aspect of the police force because it provides a basis for standards of behavior among the officers. Being tough and lack of emotional display is discouraged in the police force to prevent officers looking weak and allow officers to have the ability to deal with tough disturbing situations in the course of their jobs. Police subculture also characterizes secrecy, clannishness, and isolation of non-members owing to their different work requirement and work shifts (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). Police subculture is a relevant issue because it determines the success, motivation, and workmanship of a police officer. Corruption in law enforcement agencies is an important aspect of effectiveness of crime prevention and law enforcement. Corruption has deeply affected police operations, and the vice has increased in recent years. The main factor that has resulted in increased corruption is an increased in the distribution and use of drugs in the society (Greene, 1997). The war on drugs has resulted in the increased levels of money encountered by the police in the course of their duty and with the lack of supervision in the course of duty and when encountering criminals, police take money. The possibility of being caught is limited coupled with low pay and high levels of alcohol use among law enforcement officers, the chances of corruption increases. Ethics in law enforcement is an important aspect owing to its determination of the level of trust with the public and the effectiveness of security measures. All professionals have to undertake their duties in an ethical manner, but law enforcement agencies have to be more ethical owing to the nature of their duty and that they determine the ethical aspects of the community. The need for ethical training of police officers is evident to ensure understanding and adherence to ethical guidelines provided for law enforcement officers (Raines, J. B. (2010). Socialization and individual beliefs are the main determinants of the participation in unethical behavior by law enforcement officers. Mental health is a relevant factor in law enforcement since the police deal with different disturbing cases that have an impact on their mental health. The importance is the presence of mental health programs in the county, state, and municipal organizations among other law enforcement agencies (Blau, 1994). Counseling services are also provided to police officers to allow them get a grip on events and occurrences to avoid negative impacts on their mental health. Having these programs every day and hour provides sworn officers, other employees, and their families from negative impacts or trauma. It is evident that mental health is an important factor in ensuring police officers performs their duties effectively and has a clear state of mind despite a tough working environment. Law enforcement officers are faced with physical dangers in the cause of their work every day and exposure increases with dealings with violent crimes. The need to be physically prepared and ready to risk their lives is an important aspect of police work and being aware of one’s surroundings allows police officers to be mentally prepared (Randy et al., 2012). Response quickly but safely to a violent occurrence by police officers is a requirement for all law enforcement officers requiring the need to think on their feet but no endanger themselves or others in the course of their duty. Deciding on the amount of force to use everyday faced with difficult situations is part of the job for police officers making police duty dangerous and challenging owing to the exposure to physical danger (Gaines & Miller, 2014). Law enforcement is undertaken by different agencies with differing jurisdictions and capacities to facilitate safety and maintain order in the community. These include local, state, county, and federal law enforcement agencies that have different characteristics and similarities as outlined in the paper. Several issues face law enforcement agencies and there are strategies that will be effective in bettering policing service provision and augment the chances of maintaining law and order in the community. A concerted effort among law enforcement agencies, leadership, the community, and other stakeholders is important for a safer and secure living. References Blau, T. H. (1994). Psychological services for law enforcement. New York: Wiley. Bumgarner, J. B. (2006). Federal agents: The growth of federal law enforcement in America. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Cole, G. F., DeJong, C. & Smith, C. E. (1996). Criminal justice in America. New York: Cengage Learning. Federal Law Enforcement. (2015). Preparing for a job in Federal Law enforcement. Retrieved on September 18, 2015 from http://www.federallawenforcement.org/ Gaines, L. & Miller, R. (2014). CJ3. New York: Cengage Learning. Greene, J. R. (2007). The Encyclopedia of police science: Volume 1. New York: Taylor & Francis. Mc Neil, (2015). State, Local and Tribal Law Enforcement: Critical Issues. National Association of State Police (IACP). McElreath, D., Doss, A., Jensen, C., Wigginton Jr. M., Kennedy, R., Winter, K., Mongue, R., Bounds, J., & Estis-Sumerel, M. (2013). Introduction to Law enforcement. CSR Press. Raines, J. B. (2010). Ethics in policing: Misconduct and integrity. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Randy, S., Polk, D., Shapiro, G. & Tang, N. (2012). New York: Jones & Barlett Publishers. Riley, J. (2014). Data key to tracking racial profiling in Ferguson. Rand Corporation. Retrieved on September 18, 2015 from http://www.rand.org/blog/2014/08/data-key-to-tackling-racial-profiling-in-ferguson.html Read More