Law Enforcement from Federal to Local

“Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Law Enforcement, from Federal to Local”

Wow Professor, this paper is by far the longest paper I have done since I started college a year and a half ago. I learned so much about law enforcement agencies and what each one does. I started at the Federal level and went all the way through the local level. Here’s some of the things I learned.

Federal Level

History

US Marshal Service

The US Marshals Service was started in 1789, by the same people who established the federal judicial system. When George Washington set up his first administration and the first congress started passing law, they discovered that there was no one agency to represent the federal government's interest at the local level. They only solved part of the problem creating agencies such as Customs and Revenue Collections, to levy the taxes, however there were a lot more jobs that needed to be done.

Many of those tasks fell to the US Marshals Service. Their motto is “Justice, Integrity and Service”. In the second half of the 19th century, US Marshals were infamous with the “Wild West”.. In many of the frontier towns, the marshal was the only kind of law available. US Deputy Marshals became famous for their pursues of notorious outlaws like “Billy the Kid” in New Mexico; The Dalton Gang, Belle Starr and the Rufus Buck Gang in Indian Territory, Jesse James in the Midwest; and Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch in Wyoming. Sadly, 103 deputies were killed between 1872 and 1896. Some of these men who made a name for themselves were Heck Thomas, Bass Reeves, Bill Tilghman, Chris Madsen, Bat Masterson and William Wheeler, but the most famous were Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok.

In the 20th century the US Marshals started to fade as the FBI flourished. Over the years some 400 marshals have been killed in the line of duty. The 5 sided star is the oldest emblem of federal law enforcement in our...