Describe the Functions of the Police

Jessica Goodman

Describe the functions of the police

Police officers are a ‘specific, modern organisation endowed with the state’s legal authority to use physical coercion or the threat of it’ (Innes, 2003). Among many others, the police force have three functions which take priority, service provision, order maintenance and law enforcement. Over a long period of time they have accumulated a number of legal powers that enable them to carry out these three functions as well as playing a crucial role in upholding the criminal justice system. A function can be defined as ‘the natural action or intended purpose of a person or thing in a specific role’ (Houghton Miffin, 2009). Police officers are structured into three main front line divisions which consist of non-uniformed detectives, uniformed reactive teams and neighbourhood policing teams. These divisions all have the responsibility to undertake any roles that aid them in upholding the three main functions of the police.

Firstly of one the main functions the police force adhere to is service provision. This can be defined as performing a task for society which would include responding to a request for assistance. It may be argued that this ‘softer side of policing’ should not be a main function, nonetheless Hough’s research (see Newburn, T., Criminology. 2012) has provided us with evidence that it makes up a large amount of crime prevention as 31% of 1,944 incidents were linked with social service. Incidents that relate to social service are normally dealt with by organisations that typically have qualified staff on hand, and they are regularly available to execute the services they have to offer. Newburn explores this and concludes that the police force uphold this function as they are a 24 hour service available for societal emergencies (Newburn, 2012). ‘Police officers deal with every imaginable type of incident and have to cope with very challenging situations and events,’ (Police Service of Northern...