Police Department Roles and Functions

Police Department Roles and Functions

Tommy Jones

CJA 214

November 7, 2012

James Leonard

Police Department Roles and Functions

In the United States, the duty of the law enforcement is to uphold public safety, first and foremost, by reducing the amount of crime in the environment. To achieve this responsibility worldwide, police officers have to partake in many roles. Several of those roles are conflicting roles, depending on the method of the organization, some accentuated over others.

All police departments, no matter the location or size, have goals set up. These goals set forth a sense of purpose and direction. The primary goals of policing are the prevention of crime and protection of life, to uphold and enforce the law, to combat public fear of crime, to promote community safety, to control traffic, to encourage respect for the law, to protect the civil rights and liberties of individuals. These goals are important because they help to mode organization in a police department. The five responsibilities of police officers are to enforce the law as instructed, arrest offenders in a safe manner, prevent crime, preserve the peace, and provide law enforcement services. These responsibilities go hand- in- hand, helping to maintain and control order in society.

In order for a police department to carry out goals that have been put in place, there must be operational strategies. These strategies serve a useful purpose in officers’ day -to -day operations. Operational strategies include: preventive patrol, routine incident response, emergency response, criminal investigation, problem solving, and support services. Preventive patrol is to have an officer presence in the community. This helps to make the people feel safe, officers respond more quickly, and this deters criminals. Routine incident response is an important service that helps officers obtain information, interrupt criminal activity, and provide a sense of security to citizens...